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The death of god had many repercussions, and as a god of knowledge, information literally comprised much of his spirit. Wisps of his very essence scattered from Maanzecorian's dying body, bathing the surrounding area in eons of collected secrets. Random bits of knowledge would come into the minds nearby uninvited, similar to one of the disorienting psychic storms of the Astral Plane. Though a few of his proxies, namely mind flayers known as Dleniacorus and Hananolith, managed to escape, their ties to him were too strong and they soon died in unimaginably horrific agony. [9] Rumors and Legends [ ] The multiplication of mind flayer colonies happened when a tadpole, quite rarely, through ceremorphosis, created a more powerful form known as an ulitharid (meaning "noble devourer" in Undercommon), [12] which was biologically bigger, stronger, and more powerful and cunning than regular mind flayers. They possessed six face tentacles instead of the regular four. Most notably, however, they were not controlled by the elder brain. The appearance of an ulitharid caused a burst of growth in both the colony's size and capabilities. Elder brains grudgingly accepted the appearance of a potential rival, because eventually the ulitharid broke off from the colony. When doing so, it took a few mind flayers with it and sought to establish a new colony in a distant location from the original. Eventually, the ulitharid transformed into a new elder brain. [2] [64]
Dart continues to grow and eventually becomes a dog-like Upside Down creature, and just one of many that begin to terrorize our heroes. Will’s condition worsens and he becomes little more than a puppet for the Mind Flayer. Eventually they figure out that they can communicate with the real Will via Morse Code and he instructs them to CLOSE GATE (all of which feels a tiny bit like retreading Season 1 plot points, but whatever). Meanwhile, Jim Hopper, having been imprisoned in Kamchatka, narrowly escaped the wrath of a Soviet-controlled adult Demogorgon, and was broken out of captivity by Joyce, Murray Bauman and Yuri Ismaylov. After Hopper and his ally Dmitri Antonov were freed, the group discovered a cell containing a piece of the Mind Flayer, which they called 'the particles'. In the same room, the group discovered dozens of juvenile Demogorgons, frozen in cryogenic tanks. After the group's exit from the facility, the situation involving the unleashed Demogorgon became more and more chaotic. As Soviet soldiers haphazardly fought the creature, they accidentally shattered the cell holding the captured portion of the Mind Flayer. These released particles immediately entered the bodies of the frozen Demodogs, reawakening and possessing them, and going on to slaughter the remaining personnel. Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel (2003-10-24). Underdark Dungeons (Zipped PDF). Wizards of the Coast. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved on 2018-09-11. Psionic energy was extracted from the brain by an illithid in the victim's last moments of activity. [2] The psychic essence freed from brains was nourishing in a way far more efficient and potent than flesh could be alone, metaphysically reenergizing their metabolism so well that only one intelligent brain was needed per month for them to remain healthy. [59] Without this minimum requirement met, a mind flayer would slowly suffer physical debilitation and grow so weak that they would die in four months. Ideally they would eat a brain a week so as not to feel deprived, but most mind flayers fell between the two and ate brains about once every two weeks. [59] [57] In the Underdark, the sense of grandeur felt by the derro made them favored foodstuff, while drow, deep dwarves, and deep halflings were also highly valued. [57] In particular, duergar brains were considered delicacies. Kuo-toa were also a great treat, although only if eaten raw and untainted by psionic energy, meaning they were eaten immediately upon capture. [2] [57] The best hunting ground was the surface, where even creatures like goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and ogres tasted better than their subterranean counterparts, and where the most prized humans, halflings, elves, and dwarves resided. [57] Small humanoids such as kobolds or gnomes were more frequently hunted for food than made into thralls, as they gathered in large groups, were easily forced into line by stronger thralls, and were often easier to drive to terror or despair, which made their brains tastier. [2]Will's next vision took place at school, shortly after he encountered Dart in the bathroom. Will found himself in the Upside Down once more, standing in the school corridor. Suddenly, the shadow monster's dark mist began to flood into the corridor before chasing after Will. After running outside and onto the field, Will stopped and turned to see the Mind Flayer looming high above the school. Remembering what Bob had told him as they drove to school, Will attempted to confront the Mind Flayer, yelling at it to "go away!" The Mind Flayer ignored Will, continuing to pursue him before entrapping him within one of its tornado-like appendages. Mind flayers had utterly alien thought processes and enigmatic objectives. [14] They saw themselves as masterminds that twisted others into serving their own sinister and far-reaching schemes. [1] [16] While some individuals could show extreme variance in mindset, the majority shared many common beliefs and precepts. [21] Maanzecorian had many divine enemies, including most of the Dark Seldarine, the gods of the duergar, Shevarash, Dugmaren Brightmantle, and Callarduran Smoothhands. [14] Worshipers [ ] The scene in which the Shadow Monster infects or enters Will bears resemblance to the possession sequence in 1973's The Exorcist. While speculating the shadow monster's weakness, Lucas, Mike, Dustin, and Max theorized that if they destroyed the monster, they would also destroy the monster's army. When they realized that the shadow monster controlled everything in a hive mind, they compared it to the Mind Flayer, a monster from Dungeons & Dragons that similarly controls the minds of its victims. The boys' D&D manual also stated that the Mind Flayer's goal was to spread and take over other dimensions, making them speculate that the shadow monster wanted to do the same. The group decided to interrogate Will to find the shadow monster's weakness.
They succeed at this and Nancy is able to use her investigative work to expose the lab and have it shut down, but the Mind Flayer is still alive and we know that this kind of thing isn’t the end. The gate will be opened once again—by someone. The kids are already growing up at this point, and Lucas and Max kiss at the school dance. So do Mike and Eleven. Portents of things to come. Illithids were known to dress in flowing and dramatic robes and cloaks. [15] They were rarely seen without distinctively two-lobed boots, which concealed their webbed feet. [17] They often wore high, flaring collars, dark hats, and various other pieces of ornamentation. [15] Personality Dustin finds a strange little creature in his trash can and names it D’artagnan, or Dart for short. When he shows the boys, they’re all immediately convinced it’s from the Upside Down—especially after Will has another strange vision. Will’s visions worsen, and he starts seeing a giant creature that we eventually come to know as the Mind Flayer.Some mind flayers viewed the perfect memory of the aboleths as a manifestation of Maanzecorian, which led to several conflicts between them. [2] Art The second season of Stranger Things introduces new characters to the cast. Joyce has a boyfriend, Bob Newby, and there’s a new fiery-haired girl at school—Max—who Lucas falls for instantly. Unfortunately, Max’s older brother Billy Hargrove is a lot bigger and more frightening, and promises to be nothing but trouble. As a race of planar travelers, mind flayers did not worship entities from the Outer Planes as deities and did not share the same mythical thoughts about the afterlife. [47] [2] Furthermore, the illithids did not believe they possessed souls; [2] nevertheless, they could still become petitioners, [48] but their disinterest in such a conception of life after death made such petitioners rare, [8] and those in their primary patron's realm appeared and acted much the same as their living counterparts. [48] Said souls most likely initially belonged to the tadpole that created the mind flayer, as the host's original soul was either sent to the Fugue Plane or destroyed completely after the process of ceremorphosis was complete. In fact, the former Lord of the Dead Jergal, and also Mystra, stated that the souls of mortals disappeared after they became mind flayers. [13] The Mind Flayer's main form, also known as the 'Shadow Monster', is a massive entity, looming at least 50 stories tall. [1] It has a unique body composed entirely of minuscule particles, giving it a misty appearance akin to a shadow.
Little was known about Maanzecorian, [11] and given that the illithids themselves were mysteries of the cosmos, it was practically impossible to discern the origins of him or Ilsensine. [15]
Some illithids dedicated themselves to studying and honing their innate abilities. Known as illithid psions, they were capable of even more remarkable feats of psionic power, including telekinetic abilities akin to mage hand and telekinesis; further mental control abilities such as charm person, command, sanctuary, fear, crown of madness, phantasmal force, and confusion; and even divination abilities such as guidance, true strike, see invisibility, clairvoyance, and scrying. [2] Combat After digging into the pumpkin patch's soil, Hopper descended into a subterranean tunnel overgrown with vines and biological material originating from the Upside Down. As he was exploring, he encountered a strange growth that sprayed a cluster of spores in his face, causing him to lose consciousness. While almost every illithid sought the dominion of their race, each was an incredibly intelligent, individual entity with different ideas on how to make that happen. [2] [27] Some would do so with military might, creating grand thrall armies to conquer the world, while others sought to use their psionics to create powerful magic items to use in their quest. Their intentions in given situations could seem bizarre, sometimes to the point of being incomprehensible, but almost every action taken was meant, in some way, to help them achieve their racial supremacy. [27] Even so, illithids that once revered him were dismayed to wake one sleep-period to find they could no longer channel divine spells, and their prayers went unanswered even in the forms of signs. Divination into his realm eventually made clear a single, inescapable conclusion: Maanzecorian had been slain. [10] In Oryndoll, the Cult of the Philosoflayer was a minor faction of the Venerator Creed before Maanzecorian's death, since which the Elder Conclave had begun a vast effort to reobtain his knowledge before it was lost to Gehenna or some avaricious entity elsewhere. They once had a small house of worship called the Cenotaph of Maanzecorian. [1] Possessed humans are colder to the touch than average, to the point where the temperature around possessed humans significantly decreases.
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