The Terrifying Life Cycle of the Mind Flayer | Illithid Biology Explained

The Mind Flayer, a creature who strikes fear of anyone unfortunate enough to meet one. For countless eons, they've been shrouded in mystery, but today, we explore what few have dared to even consider: the science behind their life cycle, and ultimately, their terrifying transformation.

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This video was edited by @CyanRameron, who does excellent work!

Chapters:

0:00 - Introduction
1:20 - Sponsor
3:08 - Historical and Cultural Background
5:34 - The Illithid Life Cycle
5:49- The Tadpole
7:27 - Ceremorphosis
14:54 - Biology of the Adult Illithid
17:28 - Psionic Brain
21:33 - The Elder Brain

Sources:

Cordell, Bruce R. The Illithiad. TSR, 1998.

[dreadthemadsmith]

The slowly referring to ilithid things to "we" and "our" was a nice touch.

[Stargazer]

Thanks for this video! My girlfriend has just underwent total ceremorphosis to treat her chronic heart condition. Its been difficult to keep an open mind in our relationship. Thoughts and prayers to Helm are appreciated.

[jennyfeare]

"Keep an open mind" Sounds like something a Mind Flayer would say, nice try!

[introspectiveseraphim]

Bravo! The increasing frequency of referring to mindflayer culture as "our" culture, as well as the stated urgency of video sections, the "very personal" experience with aspects of ceremorphosis, all culminating to the realization that it was not a person speaking at all... but a mindflayer the whole time. Brilliant video, love me that psychological horror xD

[lurklingX]

the "we" and "our" was so subtle i missed it before seeing that in the comments. (good job!) the thing that caught me when i first watched was the "i don't have much time." so i had the sense that someone got tadpole'd and that this was during that 7 days and running out of time being sentient. so i still had that sense of the change. and also, because how would certain things be known? like ilithids retaining a sense of self when they join the elder brain.

stellar.

[Oooze]

This just in; local bio-alchemist gets turned into mindflayer, more at eleven.

[puggumpus]

DnD biology? This is truly a day for nerds all around the word

[Shea_J]

One thing I’ve always been slow about is the true self of the mindflayer. Is the parasite controlling the body like a pilot or does it just become a new brain?

[ahuman]

At 21:59 the narrator calls the elder brain “the center of our culture” and earlier in the video implies they need to get through the rest of the content quickly for some reason. I believe that they have either been forcibly infected with a tadpole or have consumed one, as they seem to be slowly slipping into acting as though they are a mind flayer with this line. Really cool story telling detail!

[Kirk]

The shift from "Illithid Society" to "Our Society" was slow and subtle enough to be both chilling and exhilarating. Well done.
Easily my favourite video from you yet (yes I am biased as a long-time D&D player/nerd), and I've seen them all! Thanks again for all your hard work and research, these videos sre truly wonderful.
PS. Your voice is so soothing that I can easily fall asleep to the videos I've seen multiple times. Thank you for that too.

[scottydu]

I made an NPC for a campaign once and called him “The Reasonable Illithid”. He was a mind flayer who discovered mercantilism. Spices, textiles, books and scrolls from all corners of the world, and at prices that will drive you mad!

[yukitheangelicgearwing]

Is it just me, or did he consume at least a partial amount of a tadpole? He seems to have the ability to understand his 'subjects' and their telepathic neurogical sound waves.
He couldn't have allowed one inside, not fully intact, he would not have had enough time to film this video.
I have theory that he may have consumed some sort of syrum that only contains the neccessary DNA in order to gain this ability, but without the transformative particles, he cannot develop accute senses to reach the Elder Brain or understand those whispers fluently.

(Yes I know this isn't real lmao It's a lore theory and I love lore!!)

[hunterzx]

You call it a mind flayer, I call it an evil Squidward. We are not the same.

[DraptorRonin]

I wonder how Ilithids would handle a host who’s brain has built up a bunch of Prions?

Would Prion diseases cause unintended damage to them? Would they possibly undergo an epidemic of Chronic Wasting Disease?

[josephogden]

The gradual transition from 3rd person to collective 1st person is a uniquely enthralling act of impressive writing. Well done, good sir! Well done!

[sada]

The switch from "their" to "our" at 21:52 gave me chills

[housewilma]

also fun fact there are many unique situations ceremorphsis fails or alters slightly creating variants my favourite being gnome mindflayers.

they are adorable tiny as gnomes with the same mischevious nature and there face tentacles are 1 third the length of proper mindflayers and have big round eyes.

they make up for there physical weakness with even stronger psionic ablitys then the average mindflayer and LASER PISTOLS.

[Lucian_BlackRaven]

Funny thing you never talked about the other form of the larva stage where if it stays in the brine for a long time it would evolve into something worse and it could kill the entire mindflayer hive

[loremipsum]

8:17 “indeed I have /very/ personally observed that beyond this timeframe, there is no point in resisting” excellent setup for the chilling realization later! I love how you can craft such a compelling story into the background of these videos!

[chickensky]

One thing I find really fascinating about Mind Flayers is that their species' biology has so much potential to mutate into different forms like the Neothelid, and the Illithids themselves hate such abberations as much as any other race does, if not even more so. It seems to be a recurring theme amongst aberrations like Illithids and Beholders that they are exceedingly arrogant about their own superiority, as well as the superiority of their race, which lends itself perfectly to their disgust towards any sort of variation of their life cycle.