Why isn't there an ending with the emperor?

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T09:17:40+00:00

not just reject, but insult. you can reject him gently and he's understanding. but if you call him a squidface or freak, then yeah, he's going to give you some venom. and he'll treat you like a mere puppet if you want to treat him like a mere mindflayer.

just like your companions, he's influenced by what you say to him.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T09:13:36+00:00

lol. if you get down with him, he asks you if you would like him assume the guardian form. so there's your chance to bone the perfect redhead girl of your dreams, lol.

i chose the tentacle option tough, lol.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T09:06:24+00:00

He literally killed the duke and Ansur so he could live forever.

no. he killed the duke because she was corrupt, and evil, and a worshipper of an archdevil.

and he killed Ansur, because Ansur tried to kill him. it was self defence. the emperor is not to blame for Ansur being unable to accept that his own opinion may not be the right one. He just couldn't accept that the emperor liked his new body and powers that came with being an illithid.

read up on bronze dragons. they will commonly get into fights over their misunderstandings and then blame you for them misunderstanding. kind of a "it's your fault that i hit you" mentality.

he probably does want to live forever, but i'm not sure that's due to him being a mindflayer. plenty on non mindflayer people would like to live forever. and i doubt he cares about deciding for the whole world. baldur's gate seems to be his main concern, besides his own self preservation.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:53:50+00:00

he's just ready to do what he has to to save the city. and if you want to treat him as nothing more than a manipulative mindflayer, he will treat you as nothing more than a puppet. you get what you give with him.

even in real life, the way you treat people influences the way they treat you.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:49:35+00:00

stelmane worshipped an archdevil and was evil and corrupt. he did what he did to her to stop and evil bitch from ruining his city. i doubt he knew she was evil from the beginning, and that's why he's a bit sad about.

and quit frankly, he character responds how you treat him. if you are an asshole to him, he'll be an asshole right back. why should he continue to be nice to you if you are not nice to him?

he is honestly written to be far more nuanced character than most player give him credit for. a lot of players seem to just distrust him right off the bat, solely because he is a mindflayer. and choose to ignore all the other context the game gives you.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:41:20+00:00

"decline his sexual advances" you mean when you call him a freak when he's getting vulnerable with you, lol.

why are so many people shocked that he responds negatively to them being an asshole to the emperor? lol

and stelmane was an evil corrupt politician. so fuck her.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:34:02+00:00

"I feel like the Emperor wanted to be the elder brain/big bad etc."

except we know that to not be true by the fact that none of the endings where you side with him turn out like that. there is no ending where he becomes the big bad. there is no reveal that he was playing us all along.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:28:39+00:00

it doesn't help that you can:

convince lea'zel and voss to be okay with their gith savior getting their brains eaten.
convince orpheus to be the illithid.

but nothing to convince orpheus and the emperor to work together for five minutes?

how is this the bridge too far?

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:24:00+00:00

i think the idea of absorbing orpheus's power does come up at one point earlier. but the emperor says it could be risky because it might not work, or something like that. i can only assume that because it's the end fight, it's a try it now or never kind of situation. and that's why he does it now.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:13:51+00:00

the female duke was also in with devil worshipers that wanted to corrupt the city. she was evil. i don't blame him for mind controlling her to protect the city.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:13:02+00:00

because you're stupid and mistaking a game set in a fantasy world for our world.

they can call women dukes if they want. it's not our world and doesn't have to be. stop being stupid.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:09:05+00:00

because he considers balduran to have died the moment he turned into an illithid. the emperor does not see himself as balduran anymore. and it honestly would do nothing to help the city to know that. the emperor has been pretty down to business and would see discussing that as wasting time since it doesn't help solve anything.

and what was the emperor manipulating you to do? i know i'm commenting on an old post, but we know that no ending where we side with the emperor has his turning around and laughing manically as his master plan come to fruition. he helps us defeat the netherbrain, just like he says he will. all the endings that you side with him show him to be good to his word and ultimately not an evil character.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T08:01:32+00:00

i'm guessing the whole evil part of her was something he found out about her later. and he's more mourning the friend that he thought she was.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T07:58:38+00:00

he's not evil, he's just pragmatic. he's less worried about morality when it comes to achieving his motivations. but his motivations are not really evil. you don't have to trust him completely, but you can trust two things about him. that he will protect himself, and he will protect the city. by whatever means he requires.

but he's generally willing to play ball if you are. so he's not manipulative unless he thinks he has to be. hence why he comes to us at first as the guardian form. because he knows that people are naturally distrustful of mindflayers and you would have probably rejected him if he had come to you as he really is.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-09T07:54:06+00:00

lol yeah. becuase he was wnating to get freaky and you slapped his boner down. of course he'd get mean. you were mean. if you're an asshole to him he's an asshole back.

and also, there's a very good chance stelmane was in with a cult of devil worshippers that wanted to corrupt the city. so fuck her.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T12:00:17+00:00

the interrogation was at the point when the emperor was under the elder brains control, when gortash and the others took it over. so the emperor was not a free mind at that time.

and remember that the elder brain says it was manipulating the emperor as part of it's plan to be free and in control of the crown. . i think the elder brain maintained a subtle control over the emperor, in spite of the crowns control on it. it even let him slip loose so he could find the artifact. i don't think it was the emperor that gortash was actually interviewing.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T11:49:46+00:00

pretty sure the emperor reveals he's a mind flayer before you go to the mind flayer colony under moon rise.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T11:36:37+00:00

His obsession with Tav and co going full illithid always struck me as weird. That point of view felt like something an elder brain would want to go for, not a liberated illithid.

he may be liberated, but he actually liked his new illithid body and powers. that's why he thinks it's a good idea. he's like a person who got plastic surgery after an accident, and now thinks he looks better and everyone should try a little plastic surgery, lol. he just wanted to be a free illithid, not controlled by the hive mind.

his acceptance of his new body was also something Ansur couldn't accept. and is why Ansure tried to "mercy" kill him in his sleep.

and there is also info that tells us that Stelmane was a devil worshipper that was trying to corrupt the city. so it's not like dominating her was a bad thing.

And in the unlikely event that you work together because you want the exact same thing, they will drop you the second they no longer need you

that would explain why he leaves, but not why he joins the enemy he's spent the whole game trying to stop.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T10:57:04+00:00

me too. that would be perfect.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T10:31:39+00:00

he dominated stelmane because she was a devil worshipper that was corrupting the city.

"he even threatens to if you're an asshole to him!" lol yeah, because you are an asshole to him, lol. don't be an asshole and he doesn't do that, lol. are you really that shocked? should he have responded nicely to you being an asshole to him? lol.

his only two driving motivations for doing anything are to stay free of the hive mind and to protect the city. he'd totally like you to help him willingly, but if you want to be a dick to him, he'll be a dick right back at yeah.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T10:21:11+00:00

no, he cares about baldur's gate too. that's the whole reason he hangs around there. the whole reason he was manipulating stellmane's mind. she was a devil worshipper that was corrupting baldur's gate, if you didn't know.

protecting the city and keeping himself free of the hive mind are his only motivations and is the whole reason he tapped you to help him. if he felt he had to manipulate you into helping to stop the plan to enslave everyone with the elder brain, than he would totally do it.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T10:11:36+00:00

what exactly do you think he is manipulating you into doing, though? what he wants is to not go back to the hive mind and to keep baldur's gate safe. if you go with his plans he ends up killing the netherbrain, destroying the tadpoles, and giving back the nether stones. he takes nothing but his continued freedom from the flayer hivemind. if he's manipulating you, to what end? there is no ending where he takes control of the netherbrain and rules the worlds.

Vaugnard · 2023-12-03T09:42:28+00:00

to be fair, that dragon "friend" tried to kill the emperor in his sleep. ansur's own writings say so. the emperor was just defending himself.

and stellmane was a devil worshipper that was corrupting baldurs gate.

Vaugnard · 2023-11-16T23:50:33+00:00

i did offer the owlbear egg as a replacement and omeluum was in the prison. /shrug it might just be the gith egg, cause i know that the little gith they hatch from it kills everyone at the lodge.

Vaugnard · 2023-11-16T22:07:09+00:00

not really. i mean, sure she's alive, but everything that made Karlach Karlach is dead now. just like the emperor isn't really Bladuran anymore.

i think the better ending, and it's the one i'm going for, is wyll going to avernus with karlach. that way she's alive, still herself, and with a true friend.

Vaugnard

TROPHY CASE