@Breonnick minis the fact thay everyone other then him makes a choice. Orpheus wants to kill himself and destroy the absolute. You as a main character can make a choice wether to become or destroy. The emperor decided he wanted to become the absolute.
If the Emperor made you a thrall, why didn't he transform you into a mindflayer which is what he always wanted? It's clear he still respected you enough to give you agency and didn't make you a thrall
@@atitana++ His first thought was that he receives the powers of Orpheus, uses the Nether stones and destroys the Elder Brain, it’s up to you whether he will turn you into a mind flayer
I do wonder if The Emperor realizes just how suicidal of a decision this is in the event the player-character was the Dark Urge. That *thing* can only be controlled for so long. He is born of Bhaal's very divine blood, the only Bhaalspawn in all of history in whom the Slayer resides (or rather resided, courtesy of Orin) naturally.
Actually, if it comes to this, all the emperor have to do is trigger the safe button. He just need to trigger the end of the Ceromorphosis and make Durge a full Mind flayer. No more urges, no more bhaal blood, no more slayer, just another thrall
@@bengunn9670 Yeah! When I made my comment, the epilogues were not a thing. But they kind of broken what they themselves established the whole game when they kept saying that when you became mindflayer, is not really you, just someone else with your memories
That's honestly an incredibly cool thought. Like a divine poison. I can't imagine if Illithids as they are would be more or less dangerous than them with the bloodthirst of a Bhaalspawn.
"the only Bhaalspawn in all of history in whom the Slayer resides" lmao, where tf did you get that bs from? In BG2 & ToB, Bhaalspawns could turn into the Slayer. It's not that strong of an avatar even, Abdel Adrian's Ravager form would legit one shot the dark urge's Slayer form. Also, the Emperor isn't controlling the party, if he was, he would have transformed them all into mindflayers on the spot. If the Durge was stupid enough to kill the Emperor, the brain would be free again and it would thrall everyone instead.
@@TheGreenReaper because he has a heart doesn't mean he can be good. He is a master manipulator after all. We are not his first thralls. Duke Belyne Stelmane (yes his "lover") was his thrall as well. You can find evidence of it not only in the game during the romance with him but also in the DND module that was setting up the events for this game (Descent Into Avernus).
I think it is more like a king and his queen thing. After all he has the full control of the absolute. But that doesn't mean that he is controlling you.
@@lordiofchaos4856 im pretty sure the player's eyes being the same as their companions is an indicator that he is, in fact, just made you and everyone else his puppet (or you always have been). it is no different from a dark urge ending, where your companions disagree with you when you become the absolute - the eyes, the brain waves or whatever to call them, the animatons - everything is the same.
@@nrthmnwnd just like in any ending where you become the absolute. Bg might be a detailed game, but it doesn't mean that they could cover everything) There can be many interpretations, I believe. After all we didn't get the text that explained full aftermath. Like in many other rpgs (DA:O, Witcher 3 etc.). So we can agree that both our points of view can be valid.
@@lordiofchaos4856 There is no place for interpetation here. Your character's eyes are shinning like all other enthralled party members, there is only one single throne and the Emperor is saying "in my name" not in ours.
They're both thralls, the Netherbrain just lets them feel like they're in charge, just the same as it always has before, but they're not really in control. The Emperor becomes nothing more than a figurehead.
"Your trust in our bond is touching but it is too much of a risk. I will kill the brain." Not word by word but pretty close. I rolled a nat 1 in that conversation. Then it goes to the normal good ending.
I got a different variation to that ending. Emporer didn't enslave my party but we did give into ambition but also saved populations from slaughter. I think it might depend on your relationship with him. All my party members and him were at the throne scene.
They have no souls as in they have no attachment to the gods of this plane and they can’t collect their souls to become more powerful. Souls are just that, a thing for the gods to benefit from.
but the main character himself convinced him of this. with the usual destruction of the brain, our character and the emperor go their separate ways, what is ultimately wrong with his lies?
The only Mindflayer whose worth saving is Omellum. SPOILER ALERT AHEAD! When you find him in the Iron Prison, he straight up tells you to abandon him and to save Duke Ravengard. He’s the only Mind Flayer who would sacrifice their own life for someone else.
I still wish there were an option to have Omeluum use the stones. But with, like, hyper-specific requirements - so saving everyone on the Iron Throne, not taking the Ring of Mind Shielding from it... would've been cool.
@@Garaman257 The only thing that affects if he is captured or not is if you give the Gith egg to Lady Esther before moving to chapter 2, presumably he came to the city to assist with a different project, since the Gith egg project was canned, and gets captured by Gorlash as a result.
Now that they changed the subjugate ending with two companions, I wonder if they would eventually do the same with the Emperor and your Tav/Durge unthralled, or if the 4-player coop fortnite dance is just set in stone forever.
i like the emperor and i don't apologize for it. i thought this was an interesting ending, and i liked it personally. of course you will be under the emperor's control, but the emperor himself is a renegade ghaik, so it's safe to say he won't betray you for the glory of illithids
@@bengunn9670 I think it’s kind of obvious that the PC meant to rule over the brain together and not to themselves become a thrall. So yes, I count this as betrayal
I knew since when Raphael offers a deal with you and I didn't acept but that mothefucker was still trying to get deep in my mind as he is really a Control freak
Sometimes the "heroes" don't deserve a happy ending. Most routes you can take through BG3 entrench the protagonists firmly in the "actually worse than most of the villains" camp, *especially* if you're trying to do a good playthrough. This is them getting *exactly* what's coming to them.
@@tek512 I’m curious what actions in a purely good playthrough you would consider ‘worse than the villains’. The villains of this game wanted to either throw the world into complete chaos (the chosen) or enslave the world under mind flayer rule (the netherbrain) A pure good playthrough sees you trying to stop them from doing this, and helping the people who are suffering as a result of their actions. There’s nothing a player would do in a straight good playthrough that is really all that bad. Sure we the player have the choice to make the party act like horrible assholes, like in this ending where we tried to take over the world, but you seem to be implying that even in a 100% good playthrough they are still bad people which I find.. Interesting.
@@tropicturtle9021There are times in the game when you can't choose a good thing, because it is not clear what is good or bad. It's all a matter of perspective. Are you a githyanki who wants to follow the queen, or are you one who wants to follow orfeus. The story branches in different ways and the concept of good and bad is not static in this game. IF you are good and want to free orfeus, yeah, the game prompts you to strike a deal with the devil. Oh, you don't want that? Tresspass steal and kill then. The only "Good" Ending is gale exploding in act 2.
@@lordempalatorso you consider freeing the Aragorn of one of the most dangerous races in the Astral Plane morally grey because to do that you need to... Trespass into a Devil's house? That's an extreme lawful neutral opinion, for sure
Thank you for posting this. I love the Emperor as a character. Although I do prefer the less evil ending of siding with him and destroying the brain, it's pretty cool to know this is one of the possible outcomes. I do love that he never actually betrays you and that this is only possible if the PC persuades him to do it.
This ending should be fixed, avoiding the PC and minthara / astarion to be mind controlled as they did in the ending where you directly take control. After all, it's you who convinces him to do this
He was evil before we even met him. He was evil while we were with him. He has always concealed his evil goal under him being a helping hand or that it was for greater good. There is plenty of evidence in baldur's gate 3 as well as in baldur's gate: descent into avernus of him being an evil person. He enthralled Duke Belynne Stelmane. In this ending he enthralls you as well. He killed his friend (Ansur). Duke Belynne Stelmane was caught smuggling brains in for him on several occasions (god knows if they were all from criminals as he says). He concealed a lot of important information. If we go against him he doesn't like it and if we go against him in the end then he turns enemy for no reason. He is a d*ck. Also if you tihnk he is good only because he has memories of being Balduran then that is fake as you can read quite a bit on Balduran and the fate of his ship and crew. Balduran although done a lot of good deeds was a d*ck as well and morally was at best a true/chaotic neutral character.
@@Matte8lack Perhaps but thanks to him, I get cool eldritch powers, so I don't give a shit. If only we could enjoy being a complete mind-flayer longer....
@@keklord6074 Spoiler, potential game-breakear and definite balance breaker ahead (so a separate hard save before doing any of it advised): apparently there is currently a bug that allows you to play as a full mindflayer party (haven't tried that yet myself as I have no save in that moment of the game, but I plan to test it as soon as I get there on my next run). SPOILER: by the end of Act 2 (after resolving the Nightsong situation in any manner) Act 1 locations via quick travel become locked and if you try to travel to them via passages (e.g. to Underdark) you will be warned by the Dream Guardian (Emperor) a couple times not to do it. If you persist the protection will be dropped and your party instantly becomes mindflayers enslaved by the Absolute. Now, this is a game over normally, but if you quick save when the game over screen pops up and then load the last save... apparently you load in with your party fully under your control again and all mindflayers (with the appropriate powers either already there or unlockable via new tadpoles). Then you just quick travel to any location available and you can run the full mindflayer party till the end of act 2 and throughout entire act 3. Of course, since it's an exploit everyone will treat you as if you're still human(oid) completely breaking the immersion, the game becomes too easy with all the OP powers even on tactician, and unpredicted sequence breakers may occur. But, if you just want to have some fun as 4 mind flayers (camped companions won't turn) on a SEPARATE save (that may become unusable when the fix to that bug arrives eventually) that's your option. ua-cam.com/video/bSypgtN0Fqs/v-deo.html a link to the video I learnt about it from. All credits to the author.
The notion that you have to actually TALK HIM INTO IT is ridiculous. He abused, enslaved and betrayed every person with whom he previously had an alliance. This should be the default ending if you side with him.
Yeah pretty strange indeed. I actually refused kill Orpheus and "betrayed" The Emperor convinced he would stole the Absolute power if had the chance. No Im kind dissapointed here. =/
No idea why people would misinterpret emperor. He is practical, and for better or worse does not hold ill-intent towards the protagonist. He pretty much is Balduran as he was in life as far as we knew (on that note he might even be the adversary)
I think his reservations were genuine, he was afraid of the githyanki, and it took you persuading him that you were powerful enough to face that for him to change his mind. He's egocentric, sure, but it's not like he kills you over it if you unmask his facade of kindness, similarly, though he clearly wants to rule, if he's not confident he can win as the absolute, it's in his best interests to just be rid of the elder brain.
he is not evil, he so far has actually helped the cause, now how he does that is questionable, and of course, he will try to survive above everything, but that doesn't mean he intends to dominate the world or even mean ill to those around him, it's just the most efficient way of dealing with things, he did not even murder ansur out of ambition, he killed him on self-defence after ansur tried to kill him, and in fact, he wont be against yiu being the one to convert and take orpheus's power and dominate the elder brain, nor does he try to kill you once the opportunity rises, it makes sense within his mindset thst he'd default to killing the netherbrain until you tempt him, at which point he sees the obvious reason that, given that you are tadpoled and he has control over who is shielded from the absolute, if he is going to rule, why share it? just let you be bound to his will, I'd say it's quite the dose of Karma for the player trying to rule without becoming a mindlfayer and being naive enough to try to rule with someone who has full control over you, IMO he us chaotic neutral on his own but you can convert him to evil with this ending
This is player's fault, you literally have to convince him to become absolute for this to happen, otherwise he just destroys the brain as promised, and tbh if you convince him to become absolute... you just brought it upon yourself, you told the guy who is protecting you from the absolute to become the absolute... ofc it was gonna turn this way, but doesn't naturally become the absolute
At the end of Act I, when you're in Crèche Y'llek and gain an audience with Vlaakith, she straight up tells you that the Astral Prism holds a being that wishes to bring about the Mind Flayers' Grand Design if he isn't stopped. And this ending pretty much confirms that her assessment was entirely correct.
That is pretty ironic. I sided with the emperor my first play through as it seemed the most pragmatic approach. They did a really good job with how manipulative yet convincing they made him, true to being a mind flayer
@@DylanJG1 i believe in early access,guardian was called 'lover' so the screen after we created our character reads ' choose your lover'. Most ppl wud then go on to create the perfect character they wud romance or marry. We have been manipulated right frm the character creation screen
This shows that regardless of how well-meaning the Emperor is, at the end of the day he's still a mindflayer, the only difference between an independent mindflayer and one enthralled by an elder brain is that the later has no freewill, but even when freed every mindflayer will eventually try to pursuit the exact same thing as the brain, bringing back the illthid empire and enthrall the world, or better yet, every planes of existence. The thing is mindflayer never considers themselves evil, only causes and reasons, and when their ultimate cause is world domination, there's no argument to be made with them
I’m not 100% sure that’s true (and this is coming from someone who has only beaten the game once and chose to free Orpheus to make Lae’Zel happy). The main thing to point out is Omeluum, who not once did anything evil and probably would have been the most trustworthy mindflayer to bring. But, as for the Emperor himself (itself?), it’s all about survival with him. As this video shows, his immediate first instinct is to kill the brain. He wants freedom over domination. He wants to survive. Killing the brain, in his mind, is the better option because it has less risks. But once more, as the video shows, you, the player, have to *convince* him to dominate the brain. His response is basically “that’s a fun thought, but if we do this there is a high chance we will die. This probably isn’t the best idea”. After that, you have to convince him *a second time* . And you have to roll for it. And the roll you have to get is a Nat 20. Which means if you don’t have the boosts and fail, the Emperor just destroys the brain anyway. I feel if the Emperor was truly evil, that dice roll would have been easier, like maybe a 5 or 10, if not a 0 possibly somehow.
I feel like the dialogues should’ve been reversed, he would want to control the netherbrain and you would have to persuade him not to, act 3 writing felt a bit underwhelming ngl
I don’t know. All this time the Emperor wanted to be free of the Elder Brain. If I could think like how he possibly would, destroying it would be the best course of action. The Emperor’s whole thing is that he just wants to live. Destroying the brain has far less risks to it than controlling it.
@@pheaseyy That is exactly what this person is complaining about... The title showing up in your YT feed will spoil the game. He probably came here just to say that, not to watch the cinematic.
How do you trigger this ending ? in my playthrough I only had the option to tell him to command the brain to die or to attack him. How to trigger the "let's dominate together" dialogue ?
Perhaps you need to do illithid evolution. As for me I chose to become a full mindflayer so my only options were to conquer the world of destroy the brain
I like that he doesn’t even send you forth to do his bidding. Just keeps you near his throne as his personal cheer squad.
More like he betrayed you, he alone become Absolute and you just a thrall
He is scum. Evil like Sarevok, but absolutely lacking a backbone.
It happens to him if you become a mind flayer. I think any one who doesnt use the stones to become absolute gets mind controlled.
@Breonnick minis the fact thay everyone other then him makes a choice. Orpheus wants to kill himself and destroy the absolute. You as a main character can make a choice wether to become or destroy. The emperor decided he wanted to become the absolute.
If the Emperor made you a thrall, why didn't he transform you into a mindflayer which is what he always wanted? It's clear he still respected you enough to give you agency and didn't make you a thrall
@@atitana++ His first thought was that he receives the powers of Orpheus, uses the Nether stones and destroys the Elder Brain, it’s up to you whether he will turn you into a mind flayer
I do wonder if The Emperor realizes just how suicidal of a decision this is in the event the player-character was the Dark Urge. That *thing* can only be controlled for so long. He is born of Bhaal's very divine blood, the only Bhaalspawn in all of history in whom the Slayer resides (or rather resided, courtesy of Orin) naturally.
Actually, if it comes to this, all the emperor have to do is trigger the safe button. He just need to trigger the end of the Ceromorphosis and make Durge a full Mind flayer. No more urges, no more bhaal blood, no more slayer, just another thrall
@@puchalamancadurge goes blood-mad even as illithid in one of endings
@@bengunn9670 Yeah! When I made my comment, the epilogues were not a thing. But they kind of broken what they themselves established the whole game when they kept saying that when you became mindflayer, is not really you, just someone else with your memories
That's honestly an incredibly cool thought. Like a divine poison. I can't imagine if Illithids as they are would be more or less dangerous than them with the bloodthirst of a Bhaalspawn.
"the only Bhaalspawn in all of history in whom the Slayer resides"
lmao, where tf did you get that bs from?
In BG2 & ToB, Bhaalspawns could turn into the Slayer. It's not that strong of an avatar even, Abdel Adrian's Ravager form would legit one shot the dark urge's Slayer form.
Also, the Emperor isn't controlling the party, if he was, he would have transformed them all into mindflayers on the spot. If the Durge was stupid enough to kill the Emperor, the brain would be free again and it would thrall everyone instead.
The Emperor: "Not the plan I had in mind but works for me."
Man this guy literally destroyed his own city 🤣
That's not Balduran anymore. That's the tadpole they put in his head, all grown up.
*Random Oblivion Guard:* "For the Emperor! Hyaah!"
STOP!!!
Random Imperial Guard soldier 40k years in the future: For the Emperor!
Wow, and i thought there couldn't be any worse ending.
Just because he lacks a soul doesn't mean he lacks a heart! Plus, those githyanki were always trouble.
@@TheGreenReaper yea but he made you a slave too
@@TheGreenReaper because he has a heart doesn't mean he can be good. He is a master manipulator after all. We are not his first thralls. Duke Belyne Stelmane (yes his "lover") was his thrall as well. You can find evidence of it not only in the game during the romance with him but also in the DND module that was setting up the events for this game (Descent Into Avernus).
@@Matte8lack
>he ask you what to do
>you persuade him to become the absolute
>noooooooooooooooo he's a manipulator
lol
Lmao even
@@triplocoregith worshippers
Astarion would absolutely do that.
Lol so he just ditches you and makes you a thrall? Lol lmao...
I think it is more like a king and his queen thing. After all he has the full control of the absolute. But that doesn't mean that he is controlling you.
@@lordiofchaos4856 im pretty sure the player's eyes being the same as their companions is an indicator that he is, in fact, just made you and everyone else his puppet (or you always have been). it is no different from a dark urge ending, where your companions disagree with you when you become the absolute - the eyes, the brain waves or whatever to call them, the animatons - everything is the same.
@@nrthmnwnd just like in any ending where you become the absolute. Bg might be a detailed game, but it doesn't mean that they could cover everything)
There can be many interpretations, I believe. After all we didn't get the text that explained full aftermath. Like in many other rpgs (DA:O, Witcher 3 etc.). So we can agree that both our points of view can be valid.
@@lordiofchaos4856 There is no place for interpetation here. Your character's eyes are shinning like all other enthralled party members, there is only one single throne and the Emperor is saying "in my name" not in ours.
They're both thralls, the Netherbrain just lets them feel like they're in charge, just the same as it always has before, but they're not really in control.
The Emperor becomes nothing more than a figurehead.
I see this as an absolute win
I see what you did there
His name was the obvious spoiler lol.
lmao at how everyone is :) at the end.
I find it highly pleasing that you have to pass a Persuasion role to convince him to betray you. Wonder what a failed roll results in...
u need to persuade him because he is too cowardly to try it for himself^^'
"Your trust in our bond is touching but it is too much of a risk. I will kill the brain."
Not word by word but pretty close. I rolled a nat 1 in that conversation. Then it goes to the normal good ending.
I got a different variation to that ending. Emporer didn't enslave my party but we did give into ambition but also saved populations from slaughter. I think it might depend on your relationship with him. All my party members and him were at the throne scene.
heyhello, could you tell me what exactly happened in your scene and what you did to get it? how could you tell your party wasn't also enthralled? ^^
Love that last line!
Never trust a being who has no soul.
trust? no. Romance? absolutely! He was the best! XD
that's why I don't trust gingers
@@AgonizingDemise 🦑
Individuals with souls are basically slaves to the divine and are bound to their mercy, but the people, who are actually free, are the problem. :D
They have no souls as in they have no attachment to the gods of this plane and they can’t collect their souls to become more powerful. Souls are just that, a thing for the gods to benefit from.
who wouldve guessed that the mindflayer that lies to you the whole game, would betray you like that
ikr who would've tought
Except he only betrays you when you convince him the being a bad guy I'd a good idea
but the main character himself convinced him of this. with the usual destruction of the brain, our character and the emperor go their separate ways, what is ultimately wrong with his lies?
@dimkodimko6894 I honestly don't know why people hate on Emperor so much. They're honestly pretty chill and a reliable ally
You literally convince him to do that…
The only Mindflayer whose worth saving is Omellum.
SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!
When you find him in the Iron Prison, he straight up tells you to abandon him and to save Duke Ravengard. He’s the only Mind Flayer who would sacrifice their own life for someone else.
omellum is based.
I still wish there were an option to have Omeluum use the stones. But with, like, hyper-specific requirements - so saving everyone on the Iron Throne, not taking the Ring of Mind Shielding from it... would've been cool.
@@godoflemmings17 does taking the ring from him affect him being captured? I admit, I always let him keep it
@@Garaman257 The only thing that affects if he is captured or not is if you give the Gith egg to Lady Esther before moving to chapter 2, presumably he came to the city to assist with a different project, since the Gith egg project was canned, and gets captured by Gorlash as a result.
Fck that
Now that they changed the subjugate ending with two companions, I wonder if they would eventually do the same with the Emperor and your Tav/Durge unthralled, or if the 4-player coop fortnite dance is just set in stone forever.
i like the emperor and i don't apologize for it. i thought this was an interesting ending, and i liked it personally. of course you will be under the emperor's control, but the emperor himself is a renegade ghaik, so it's safe to say he won't betray you for the glory of illithids
Pookie deserves the multiverse
Hehehe.. I freed Orpheus and got myself ilithied up and went with Karlach into Avernus ... my character couldn't even smoke the cigar
wow amazing! I let Karlach become Illithid to save her life after freeing Orpheus, love how many variations we can get
They should've made the emperor an ultharid. Just a small change but it would have made him stand out a bit more
First time I see him betraying the PC in an ending o.O
> roll for 20(!) to convince him to control the brain
> nooooooo he betrayed me
@@bengunn9670 I think it’s kind of obvious that the PC meant to rule over the brain together and not to themselves become a thrall. So yes, I count this as betrayal
Knew he was a control freak lol
I knew since when Raphael offers a deal with you and I didn't acept but that mothefucker was still trying to get deep in my mind as he is really a Control freak
So, this is what a bricked plot ending looks like.
Sometimes the "heroes" don't deserve a happy ending. Most routes you can take through BG3 entrench the protagonists firmly in the "actually worse than most of the villains" camp, *especially* if you're trying to do a good playthrough. This is them getting *exactly* what's coming to them.
@@tek512 I’m curious what actions in a purely good playthrough you would consider ‘worse than the villains’.
The villains of this game wanted to either throw the world into complete chaos (the chosen) or enslave the world under mind flayer rule (the netherbrain)
A pure good playthrough sees you trying to stop them from doing this, and helping the people who are suffering as a result of their actions. There’s nothing a player would do in a straight good playthrough that is really all that bad. Sure we the player have the choice to make the party act like horrible assholes, like in this ending where we tried to take over the world, but you seem to be implying that even in a 100% good playthrough they are still bad people which I find.. Interesting.
@@tropicturtle9021There are times in the game when you can't choose a good thing, because it is not clear what is good or bad. It's all a matter of perspective. Are you a githyanki who wants to follow the queen, or are you one who wants to follow orfeus. The story branches in different ways and the concept of good and bad is not static in this game. IF you are good and want to free orfeus, yeah, the game prompts you to strike a deal with the devil. Oh, you don't want that? Tresspass steal and kill then. The only "Good" Ending is gale exploding in act 2.
@@tropicturtle9021 unleashing 7000 vampire spawn is the only example i can think of
@@lordempalatorso you consider freeing the Aragorn of one of the most dangerous races in the Astral Plane morally grey because to do that you need to... Trespass into a Devil's house? That's an extreme lawful neutral opinion, for sure
Thank you for posting this. I love the Emperor as a character. Although I do prefer the less evil ending of siding with him and destroying the brain, it's pretty cool to know this is one of the possible outcomes. I do love that he never actually betrays you and that this is only possible if the PC persuades him to do it.
Well deserved gg emperor deserved this and i am happy for him. He is the real hero imo
i was about to throw hands then i saw ur a hella fine of a man so i let it slide
In his name! For the Emperah! Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!
That game comes in a few months
This ending should be fixed, avoiding the PC and minthara / astarion to be mind controlled as they did in the ending where you directly take control. After all, it's you who convinces him to do this
It's not he Emperor ending. It's the subjugate brain ending. I got it with the gyth prince.
Orpheus enslaves you too?
Agh, I wish origin characters spoke!
knew i couldnt trust tht octo 😂😂😂 good thing too he was so easy to take out
To be fair you had to convince him to be evil 😂
@@zepaduse97nah, he was constantly evil and greedy, he also put it lightly onto you but never said it loud.
He was evil before we even met him. He was evil while we were with him. He has always concealed his evil goal under him being a helping hand or that it was for greater good. There is plenty of evidence in baldur's gate 3 as well as in baldur's gate: descent into avernus of him being an evil person. He enthralled Duke Belynne Stelmane. In this ending he enthralls you as well. He killed his friend (Ansur). Duke Belynne Stelmane was caught smuggling brains in for him on several occasions (god knows if they were all from criminals as he says). He concealed a lot of important information. If we go against him he doesn't like it and if we go against him in the end then he turns enemy for no reason.
He is a d*ck. Also if you tihnk he is good only because he has memories of being Balduran then that is fake as you can read quite a bit on Balduran and the fate of his ship and crew. Balduran although done a lot of good deeds was a d*ck as well and morally was at best a true/chaotic neutral character.
@@Matte8lack Perhaps but thanks to him, I get cool eldritch powers, so I don't give a shit. If only we could enjoy being a complete mind-flayer longer....
@@keklord6074 Spoiler, potential game-breakear and definite balance breaker ahead (so a separate hard save before doing any of it advised):
apparently there is currently a bug that allows you to play as a full mindflayer party (haven't tried that yet myself as I have no save in that moment of the game, but I plan to test it as soon as I get there on my next run).
SPOILER: by the end of Act 2 (after resolving the Nightsong situation in any manner) Act 1 locations via quick travel become locked and if you try to travel to them via passages (e.g. to Underdark) you will be warned by the Dream Guardian (Emperor) a couple times not to do it. If you persist the protection will be dropped and your party instantly becomes mindflayers enslaved by the Absolute.
Now, this is a game over normally, but if you quick save when the game over screen pops up and then load the last save... apparently you load in with your party fully under your control again and all mindflayers (with the appropriate powers either already there or unlockable via new tadpoles). Then you just quick travel to any location available and you can run the full mindflayer party till the end of act 2 and throughout entire act 3.
Of course, since it's an exploit everyone will treat you as if you're still human(oid) completely breaking the immersion, the game becomes too easy with all the OP powers even on tactician, and unpredicted sequence breakers may occur. But, if you just want to have some fun as 4 mind flayers (camped companions won't turn) on a SEPARATE save (that may become unusable when the fix to that bug arrives eventually) that's your option.
ua-cam.com/video/bSypgtN0Fqs/v-deo.html a link to the video I learnt about it from. All credits to the author.
Just when I think it can't get worse...It get's worse
Hurray we won!
I was lazy, I told Gale to do his thing.
Lol
if iwere to do an evil playthrough no way in hell am I letting him become the absolute
Best ending. 10/10
No I'm kidding.
This ending only in solo playthrough after patch 6 this the best ending.
The notion that you have to actually TALK HIM INTO IT is ridiculous. He abused, enslaved and betrayed every person with whom he previously had an alliance. This should be the default ending if you side with him.
Yeah pretty strange indeed. I actually refused kill Orpheus and "betrayed" The Emperor convinced he would stole the Absolute power if had the chance. No Im kind dissapointed here. =/
No idea why people would misinterpret emperor. He is practical, and for better or worse does not hold ill-intent towards the protagonist. He pretty much is Balduran as he was in life as far as we knew (on that note he might even be the adversary)
@@shl6367 ok illithid
I think his reservations were genuine, he was afraid of the githyanki, and it took you persuading him that you were powerful enough to face that for him to change his mind.
He's egocentric, sure, but it's not like he kills you over it if you unmask his facade of kindness, similarly, though he clearly wants to rule, if he's not confident he can win as the absolute, it's in his best interests to just be rid of the elder brain.
he is not evil, he so far has actually helped the cause, now how he does that is questionable, and of course, he will try to survive above everything, but that doesn't mean he intends to dominate the world or even mean ill to those around him, it's just the most efficient way of dealing with things, he did not even murder ansur out of ambition, he killed him on self-defence after ansur tried to kill him, and in fact, he wont be against yiu being the one to convert and take orpheus's power and dominate the elder brain, nor does he try to kill you once the opportunity rises, it makes sense within his mindset thst he'd default to killing the netherbrain until you tempt him, at which point he sees the obvious reason that, given that you are tadpoled and he has control over who is shielded from the absolute, if he is going to rule, why share it? just let you be bound to his will, I'd say it's quite the dose of Karma for the player trying to rule without becoming a mindlfayer and being naive enough to try to rule with someone who has full control over you, IMO he us chaotic neutral on his own but you can convert him to evil with this ending
Wait wait you killed Orpheus and still have Lae'zel in party... That's something )))
If you flatly reject Voss, and don't push Lae'zel to betray Vlaakith, then yes!
How can I get this ending😅
Cool. Will not do that ending. Not even for achievement.
It feels like they just put a bandaid ending for this
Kılıçdaroğlunun geçidi
Always hated the emperor. I always make sure to always turn him into calamari
The emperor apologists are hilarious lol
Like 😂 he doesnt care about you at all
Emperor is actually the worst guy. Deceiver.
This is player's fault, you literally have to convince him to become absolute for this to happen, otherwise he just destroys the brain as promised, and tbh if you convince him to become absolute... you just brought it upon yourself, you told the guy who is protecting you from the absolute to become the absolute... ofc it was gonna turn this way, but doesn't naturally become the absolute
He's bad but... the worst? In this game? No.
One of the many endings that makes absolutely no sense.
At the end of Act I, when you're in Crèche Y'llek and gain an audience with Vlaakith, she straight up tells you that the Astral Prism holds a being that wishes to bring about the Mind Flayers' Grand Design if he isn't stopped. And this ending pretty much confirms that her assessment was entirely correct.
how is she correct if you literally have to persuade him to become the absolute???
she did not even know the emperor was there she was talking about Orpheus, she wanted you to kill the prince
@@gabrielhenriquefachini4100 That's part of the joke.
That is pretty ironic. I sided with the emperor my first play through as it seemed the most pragmatic approach. They did a really good job with how manipulative yet convincing they made him, true to being a mind flayer
@@DylanJG1 i believe in early access,guardian was called 'lover' so the screen after we created our character reads ' choose your lover'. Most ppl wud then go on to create the perfect character they wud romance or marry. We have been manipulated right frm the character creation screen
This shows that regardless of how well-meaning the Emperor is, at the end of the day he's still a mindflayer, the only difference between an independent mindflayer and one enthralled by an elder brain is that the later has no freewill, but even when freed every mindflayer will eventually try to pursuit the exact same thing as the brain, bringing back the illthid empire and enthrall the world, or better yet, every planes of existence. The thing is mindflayer never considers themselves evil, only causes and reasons, and when their ultimate cause is world domination, there's no argument to be made with them
I’m not 100% sure that’s true (and this is coming from someone who has only beaten the game once and chose to free Orpheus to make Lae’Zel happy). The main thing to point out is Omeluum, who not once did anything evil and probably would have been the most trustworthy mindflayer to bring.
But, as for the Emperor himself (itself?), it’s all about survival with him. As this video shows, his immediate first instinct is to kill the brain. He wants freedom over domination. He wants to survive. Killing the brain, in his mind, is the better option because it has less risks. But once more, as the video shows, you, the player, have to *convince* him to dominate the brain. His response is basically “that’s a fun thought, but if we do this there is a high chance we will die. This probably isn’t the best idea”. After that, you have to convince him *a second time* . And you have to roll for it. And the roll you have to get is a Nat 20. Which means if you don’t have the boosts and fail, the Emperor just destroys the brain anyway. I feel if the Emperor was truly evil, that dice roll would have been easier, like maybe a 5 or 10, if not a 0 possibly somehow.
Lol, I actually hate how the brain speaks. I always skip as fast as I can when it speaks.
STOP PUTTING SPOILERS IN YOUR TITLES
brother in christ what else would you want ?
Don't put spoilers in your title, it'll ruin it for people who haven't played it through yet.
But it wont ruint it for people who already finished the game like me.
It's not a spoiler
I feel like the dialogues should’ve been reversed, he would want to control the netherbrain and you would have to persuade him not to, act 3 writing felt a bit underwhelming ngl
I don’t know. All this time the Emperor wanted to be free of the Elder Brain. If I could think like how he possibly would, destroying it would be the best course of action. The Emperor’s whole thing is that he just wants to live. Destroying the brain has far less risks to it than controlling it.
Bro, spoilers in the title, have some decency, some people aren't even half way through the game yet.
It literally says ending in the title lol what did you expect..
He expected the title to not include a spoiler, Emperor Ending (Becoming Absolute). Do you not read that entire title instantly? @@pheaseyy
Yes it's an RPG that's been out a week and videos are going to show all the endings and doing guides. This is life on the internet.@@evagatus
@@evagatus The NPC's name is 'The Emperor'. I think most people would see that as an obvious bad ending indicator.
@@pheaseyy That is exactly what this person is complaining about... The title showing up in your YT feed will spoil the game. He probably came here just to say that, not to watch the cinematic.
terrible endings
How do you trigger this ending ? in my playthrough I only had the option to tell him to command the brain to die or to attack him. How to trigger the "let's dominate together" dialogue ?
Romance him
Perhaps you need to do illithid evolution. As for me I chose to become a full mindflayer so my only options were to conquer the world of destroy the brain
As main u have to take astorian and dont ascent so he cant walk in the sun without tadpole
I stabbed that tentacle shit the moment i saw the opportunity and it felt so good.
You bhaal cultist😢
@@grigorkyokuto7546 In Bhall's name! 🗡