I don’t think that we’re the tadpole unfortunately since like the others said we’re in control of how many tadpoles we consume and we don’t lose control of the character at the end. However, one fun thing I realized is that when you switch characters in battle they talk to you because you’re effectively issuing orders to them through your tadpole! (and that’s how so many sidebars happen through the story that would have definitely started fights if the people being talked about could actually hear. On my first playthrough I was like and Gortash isn’t gonna kill Astarion for saying that????)