Baldur's Gate 3 - All Orpheus Endings (Mindflayer, Eaten + Hero of the Gith)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Baldur's Gate 3 - All Orpheus Endings (Mindflayer, Eaten + Hero of the Gith)
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Baldur's Gate 3 - All Character Scenes + Quest Options
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It's still a little sad how the entire thing could've been avoidable if you *_could_* convince the Emperor to free Orpheus and then the three (Tav, Orpheus, Emperor) work together to defeat the Netherbrain.
Siding with the Netherbrain just felt a little out of nowhere from the Emperor, not gonna lie.
It's not out of place. The Emperor is a survivor. Freeing Orpheus is basically signing his death warrant since Orpheus would most definitely come for him if he chose to straight up leave. The Emperor has left the brains control more than once, and is likely to be able to do it a third time since he(like Omeluum) has Arcane magic which can be used to shield his mind. So to him, I'm sure he'd rather take the chance of siding with the brain, the brain winning, and him eventually breaking away again.
Orpheus tells you "you literally should have kys" to free him sooner to avoid all this bs. Did you sacrifice to become a mindflayer or did you lie, manipulate and self preserve to survive and get an ending you wanted?
@thatoneguy9816 Im definitely gonna be the latter. My Tav is a traditionally good person, but he definitely isnt gonna become a Mindflayer when there's another option. I'm neutral on the Emperor, and I personally think that making Orpheus become a mindflayer basically makes freeing him pointless. No Orpheus will likely make the Githyanki rebellion pointless since he's crucially needed as the face of the movement, and the only reason to free Orpheus is to help the Gith. Like you said, you're either manipulating to get the ending you want, being noble and sacrificing, *or* you're making the "questionable" choices and taking the consequences that come with.
EDIT: I lowkey love The Emperor, but with how good things turn out for the Gith with Laezel as the speahead/face of the rebellion in the epilogue, I take back what I said. You either side with the Emperor cuz you like him and want Laezel to be free to choose her own potential destiny, or side with Laezel cuz you wanna do what's good for her people. Regardless of what you choose, you can still persuade Laezel to pursue her own path, so it's really "Do you like The Emperor, or not?" which I do, but I like Laezel and her wanting to be a Gith freedom fighter
I'm glad I found someone who can see outside the box. The emperor is us. And I think that's why people want to hate him. Minus all the beauty of the dream visitor, they see the ugly us.@@dorrianbrooks9408
@@dorrianbrooks9408 The emperor ksoloed a dragon whe he was a human, Orpheus would need to spend to much force and to much time on someone that does not pose a direct treat to him at the same time he is busy with the war against the lich queen. No Orpheus is not going after the emperor, he doesn't have the time or the luxury to do so. The emperor is suposed to be more inteligent than most humanoids and should be aware of this. So at least for me its still out of place for him to side with the nettherbrain
Orpheus: "You fornicated with a Mindflayer!"
Alas, outing our protag's personal conquests
The part that really horrifies me is when you find out that Orpheus was paralyzed but completely aware this entire time. For everything. He was awake and cognizant through your entire game play and however many years he's been stuck in there. The fact that he's as sane as he is if you release him after that many years of solitary confinement is fascinating and points to just how strong of a mind he has
It’s probably not as bad as you think. Time along with perception of it is different in the astral plane. To him he was probably there “for a while” but couldn’t determine how long exactly.
I get what you're saying, but solitary confinement can cause serious (and permanent) mental issues after only a couple of days. There are records of people being put in for years at a time and somehow come out sane, but that's pretty rare and usually they have some story or explanation on how they managed to keep it together despite everything. Which kind of goes back to my original point@@TheMasterUnity
@@wolf33441 I think one of the main reasons solitary drives you so nuts is because you eventually lose track of time - but in the astral plane (and outer planes in general), time and space are virtually meaningless. Everything you see while in the astral plane is totally metaphorical, a representation of psychic shit going on that you're pitifully attempting to grasp.
For Orpheus, all he would know is that he was trapped, and that he was trapped for a _while,_ and that a _ghaik_ had trapped him.
Very good observation. The cruelty of him being chained and his free speech taken away, I couldn’t bear it. My first play through, La’zel died and I didn’t know I could bring her back, by the time I found out I could, I just decided to pursue her story next time. I also missed the githyanki you’re supposed to ally with in act 3 if you don’t have La’zel and I missed that dialogue as well. So I got the hammer from the house of hope, but the game doesn’t immediately let you use it. The moment I was in the prism, I whacked that stupid hammer immediately. Was so nice to set him free and piss off the emperor at the same time. Even more satisfying, killing him on tactician before he ever even took a turn.
I definitely get that, by the time I got to the end game fight I was super skeeved out by The Emperor so I practically sprinted to get Orpheus out. I kind of pick and choose which boss battle gets fought the regular way and who goes out with a bang (I try to only use barrel-mancy sparingly so it stays funny the few times I do use it). That said I used it on The Emperor and took him out with one shot during the last fight with my first Tav. Absolutely one of the more satisfying ways to send him off lol Also I was kinda curious about what would happen in someone's paythrough if Lae'zel wasn't there for the story bits in act 3 (I like her too much to let her perma-die but I was curious) thanks for the info ^_^@@benjammin5252
It is so god damned stupid that the emperor just leaves without even letting you roll a persuasion check to get him to work with Orpheus
That and having to twist his arm to get him to accept Minsc as one of the good guys. Granted, he's not the most intelligent, but he's someone who fought alongside Jaheira to save the Sword Coast, twice. It'd be stupid to just leave him at the mercy of the Absolute forces. Besides, look how cute little Boo is!
"Very well. I have tried nothing, and I am all out of ideas. I shall now leave to join the brain."
That decision only shows that the Emperor's main goal is to survive, not save Baldur's Gate. He is willing to ally himself with the enemy in order to continue living.
It would be pretty OP if you had the emperor and orpheus as pets.
Considering the Emperor is secretly manipulating you for his own gain the whole time... I'm not shocked.
I just want omelium to be able to be the mindlfayer to help us lol. or for the emperor to pull his head out of his ass and work with orpheous.
Literally this! Why even include Omeluum in the game if it's not a secret answer
gotta say, turning into a mindflayer as a gith and fighting alongside orpheus to then go off to fight the queen with her is maybe the most goated ending i've ever gotten
If you are a gith that becomes a mindflayer, can you still fly away with them?
Yes
I believe there is another ending where you convince Lae’Zel to take up the Queen’s offer. - then she goes on to kill Orpheus.
@purpledevilr7463 if you never go to the cresh, laezel stays loyal to vlaakith. Theres 1 more time in act 3 where she can find the truth, but it essentially requires a nat 20 wisdom check and a prior check as well. You never encounter Voss again, and she encourages you to kill orpheus but gets mad if any mindflayer does it but other than 1 disapproval, shes fine and goes to Vlaakith afterwards (we know how that would probably end)
@@brennan1703 Yep, i missed cresh as i thought i could return to it later. Voss was nowhere to be seen but Lazael still realized what was her queen after i showed her with the check. Overall pretty useless character i must say, with or without her githyanki encouters are exactly same..
I actually think it was in character for the emperor to determine the only course of survial was joining the netherbrain. If you complete Wylls quest and find ansur the emperors was defintley the bad guy there and i wanted to team up with ansur in that fight. The emperor was able to overpower and kill ansur but he could have easily ran away and escaped without having to kill his friend. He was an accomplished adventurer on top of being a fully fledged mind flayer but killed his best friend and savior basically just to stay in baldurs gate. He is kind of a coward that will take any measure to save his own life without really considering an alternative to the easist and most logical best outcome for him. He is completely wrong about orpheous madly attacking once freed. Orpheous is a genuine savoir to the gith in any ending freed, and is very grateful to you even if you are a mind flayer. The emperor was so sure that freeing orpheous meant a quick death and failing to stop the netherbrain that only option he could see to save his own skin is to join the netherbrain since it was going to win anway because our choice. Him joining the netherbrain is consistent with him killing ansur, betraying his previous best friend to save himself when he had other options that would have just been more difficult and risky for himself to the benefit of everyone else.
No, the dragon would simply have sought to kill him again.
The Emperor was proven at the end of the game to be totally inept. EVERYTHING he though he did for us, was THE NETHERBRAIN playing him like a puppet.
Orpheus surviving leads into the idea of The Adversary of the ilithids. Could totally still work
The emperor: I’ve spent my whole life as a mind flayer planning to destroy the elder brain to permanently gain my freedom and survival.
Also the emperor: I’m going to forsake everything I’ve ever worked for and join the elder brain all because I’m stubborn and you don’t want to work with me.
Yeah, that turn was very weird. I expected a confrontation with him in the Astral Prism but this is just silly
@@icon_of_hornyit makes sense mindflayer work on logic and the emprol saw the most logical way to survive was to join the elder brain
@@yeayea8226 I'm not sure Emperor was like that. His character didn't look like he was hell bent on survival as his first priority. I mean he, on his own accord, became a "shadow duke" of baldur's gate, which being a mind flayer, put him at great risk and then he decided to lead us to the elder brain just so that we could destroy it. It seems to me that his character first and foremost valued his freedom and power, not necesserily survival. So him doing a complete 180 (not fighting us in the prism, not going into hiding, not siding with/controlling some other forces that could aid him) looked outrageously out of charachter
@@icon_of_horny it didn't. Emperor wants not just survival, he wants power too. The reason he wants to destroy netherbrain so much is that he is not sure whether he can fight Gith if he takes over the netherbainbrain (you can convince him he can fight them and then he just takes control of the elder brain and makes you a thrall)
@@DTraitor ...and that is why he goes to join Netherbrain and surrender all the power and independency he had left?
Facing Voss' outrage in makeup is just disrespect on a whole new level.
Halsin's drip is hilarious I love it
There is no clean good ending to this game. Either the Emperor kills Orpheus, or a party member/Orpheus obliterate their soul and become a husk of themself that’ll eventually become as cold as the Emperor. Someone has to lose incredibly hard, whether it’s the entire Githyanki species, or the person that experiences complete and total annihilation to become a Mink Flayer. Meanwhile, full commit Dark Urge is living its best life.
No u just have to trust the emporer, just bc u made a poor choice it does not mean there is ni good ending
@@rollihd714doesnt that lead to the orpheus dying ending?
@@macvadda2318 no, i never saw what appens with orpheus
He eats Orpheus's brain and Lae'zel is screwed.@@rollihd714
I was a gith, gave lae’zel a hatchling and gale blew himself up, and Karach died her true self. It still feels horrible though. I freed Orpheus and have a child with lae’zel but at what cost! :(
there should have been an option to convince the Emperor to free Orpheus and joint force. Making no sense that the Emperor really wanted freedom, hating the Elder Brain so much yet choosing rejoining the Netherbrain rather joining Orpheus.
I'm honestly surprised Lae'zel never offers to become Illithid just so Orpheus doesn't. Would of been interesting.
God I was hoping to scapegoat the transformation to Orpheus in my play through to spare myself and Karlach but now I feel bad about the idea, why is he actually a good intended leader with a sweet voice?!
Pretty sure it’s Joshua’s voice actor from FF16!
“Duty…All my life, I’ve travelled in its slipstream, not once questioning its path. In its service, I came here. And now, in its service, I leave.” 🔥🔥🔥
I loved my ending. Freed Orpheus and turned him into a mind flayer. Laezel got to still fight for her Ppl and I and wyll went to avernus with Karlach to help her. At the end we got brought back to the camp for a Lil reunion. Best ending I think. Everyone basically was alive and saved. Gale even became a teacher XD
Mine was so bittersweet in comparison. I cried. I flipped a coin for the mind flayer. I felt it was cruel to ask Orpheus to become a mind flayer after being trapped and caged for so long. So I flipped a coin to decide him or me and my coin said me. Then at the end, I chose to die, not realizing my character wouldn’t even bother saying goodbye, so he just pulls out a knife and stabs himself to Shadowheart’s horror and dismay she only had time to scream “no what are you doing?!” It was so agonizing. Karlach then just explodes. I’m working on my 2nd play through now with a Karlach romance this time. This time Orpheus takes the fall.
I think the most reasonable choice if you playing as Durge is being a mind flayer.
This all start with you and you have to paid your debt.
But when I have to make the decision I simple couldn't, I have to reload and have my happy ending. And my paladin knows very well thats one of the most egoistical decisions.
No "good" ending really. After all.....we've outsmarted, out maneuvered, betrayed or destroyed every villain up to this point. We've defied, refused, denied, and stood up to Raphael, Mizora, Vlaakith, Shar, and even stepped on the delicate toes of the three (B.B.& M). And Won! You would think The Emperor would have gotten a clue by now. Logic would have chosen our mismatched, bumbling, chaotic crew over an Elder Brain any day. Orpheus will just have to be convinced to play along. Mind meld and control. We've got this, buddy. Trust works both ways. No need for any more tentacles. Or sacrifices. UHG! And stop shoving those nasty worms in my face. Not gonna happen. 🤔Got to be a better ending. Hopefully.
It's dumb. He should be easily convinced at this point.
I hate everything here. Thats some sad energy. Give me the chance to save everyone and make them happy!
I wish there was a way to convince lae’zel to become the mindflayer and let Orpheus go. Sacrificing herself and her principals to save her people feels so satisfying as an end to her arc
I disliked all these people talking down to me as if they could do it without me so I ended up killing the emperor, letting prince turn tentical and then taking the elder brain for myself.
Notice ole Lae'zel doesnt offer to become squidmeat herself
Sus. She would have offered herself.
Ikr, who would accept their prince becoming mindflayer not herself! She was just completely useless entire game..
becoming mind flayer is her biggest fear (from speak for death). and she is stilll fresh from training. it took everything for her to accept vlakith is a tyrant. she is literally on denial in whole act 2.
I hate that the game (at least for now) railroads you into either making your character, Karlach, or Orpheus into a mind flayer (TPKs notwithstanding, obviously). Those more well-versed in 5e mechanics and lore are welcome to correct me if there's something I'm missing, but I fail to see why Larian couldn't have just decided that the Netherstones and the collective will of the party and Orpheus/The Emperor were sufficient for defeating the Netherbrain. Hopefully, a future patch will include a new ending that doesn't require anyone to become a mind flayer (Obsidian listened to players and added a "remain loyal to Kyros" ending to Tyranny, after all).
I've yet to transform my own character into a mind flayer, but unless that ending outright makes it impossible, I'm thinking I'll just make it my fanon that someone sufficiently powerful (Elminster, perhaps) True Polymorphed them back into their original body shortly after the ending.
It already exists, you can choose to let gale blow up in act 3 and nobody turns into a mind flayer.
Worse than that, we already know a friendly mind flayer who's proven he values the greater good above his own life. It doesn't require any sort of deus ex machina, just remembering that Omeluum exists and would probably be the safest choice since he's able to resist Elder Brains under his own power.
there really should be an option to convince the emperor to try to speak to Orpheus after freeing him. And then if you can convince Orpheus to work with the Emperor for the greater good, it's all three of you working together, forming a new chosen three, wielding the stones together to subjugate the brain and telling it to die.
Why shouldn’t the nether stones not be able to be wielded if the entire party joined in attempting to use it. Give us an ending where the emperor and Orpheus align and the entire party joins tadpole power to defeat the absolute.
Annoying that you can't get a happy ending alongside Orpheus. At least not if you like Karlach.
Choosing the Karlach transformation option means that you essentially lose her, and then lose Laezel for killing Prince Orpheus..
11:12 The clown makeup caught me off guard 😂
xD 18:18 the glitch sent me xDDD
It’s funny y’all think Orpheus or anyone can stand against Vlakkith she has the “Wish” power and can literally end anyone whenever.
Vlaadkith is not a God yet. Even her Wish spell can be Counterspelled.
This game is amazing. I cried with mind flayer Orpheus passing on his legacy to Lae'zel. Fucking sad and epic.
I'm pretty sure you can let Gale become a Mindflayer and avoid a bunch of tragedy that way.
This way he doesn't have to use the orb AND he can be healed back to human form by Mystra in the end.
He can WHAT in the end. Man, having a God ex-gf is so unfair
Can he be healed though? Isn't it explicitly stated that the soul is permanently lost upon transforming into a mind flayer?
@@scrapox217 Go and search for the video of this on youtube. Mystra can heal him but he has to go live with her at Elysium, whatever that is.
As a greater deity, Mystra has the power to restore the soul and form of those who have become mind flayers.
But this only happens if you play Origin Gale? After Mystra restores his soul she takes him to the afterlife or something because he can’t go back as his body was destroyed when he turned squid
You left out the ending where no one becomes a mind flayer and gale blows himself up
It didn't really change anything for Orpheus so I left it out
i didn't think that was possible, i thought the emperor/orpheus insisted someone had to become a mindflayer in case gale's plan didn't work. how do you do that?
@@Shiruviif you take gale with you at the end of act2. you can ask gale to blow himself up and end the game there.
@@Shiruvi If you take the Emperor's tadpole but say you'll use it later, then Orpheus lets you stay normal on the understanding you will use that tadpole if Gale's bomb doesn't work. There is a visual glitch where for 2 seconds in the cutscene you are Illithid, but then not after that. And every interaction acknowledges that you aren't Illithid and Gale's plan worked.
A bit buggy, but much more satisfying to stave off ceremorphosis completely. :P
@@Praetorian349 yes ty!
Appear
Declare war on vlaakith
Dissapear
Reappear
Declare war on vlaakith again
Refuse to elaborate
Orpheus story in a short
People say that The Emperor leaving is out of charecter, but I disagree. Orpheus would have 100% killed him after they destroyed the Netherbrain. So The Emperor decided to take his chances with the Nether Brain where he could have been even more powerful
How do you come to a conclusion with Karlach being a mindflayer and Orpheus still alive? Also how do you get to Orpheus being alive and no one being a mind flayer???
I think you gotta convince her to use the special worm before hand
I think maybe it wasn’t easy coming up with dialogue that would make Orpheus and the emperor peaceful but they could just used the same lines he gives to tav as the illithid hero which seemed like it was meant for that but idk dumb shit
freeing Orpheus is such a gigachad move lmao
So wait didn't they all suck out the princes brain... how is he still alive ?
If you choose to free him and the Emperor fucks off, you can free Orpheus and he says that the Emperor was right about them needing an illithid to free themselves of the brain’s control. He gives you the choice to become one and you can or Karlach can because he can simply allow the Netherbrain to compel your evolution. He’s very powerful.
If i go to Orpheus' side, i must kill the Emperor in the future?
Someone, please help me out here do you still get to ask lae'zel to stay if Orpheus becomes a mind flayer like can you still romance her
Is there a reason because i cant free orpheous AFTER we defeat the elder brain?! Cause that was all my plan. Find the hanmer, kill absolute and THEN free orpheus and kill the gith queen!
Something about having to have his mental powers with you in order to survive the nether brain's overwhelming power and control over you i think. It's a bit lacklustre of an explanation considering that you could avoid all that if the emperor and orpheus both put their feelings aside for long enough to save the world all would be alright, but alas.
don't really like the lae'zel ending from a romance perspective. you reach a point where she basically declares you her githyanki equivalent of husband, but all you have to do is say "yeah fly off to kill vlaakith" and you're broken up. Then, she refers to you as an "old friend" at the epilogue party.
It's not always possible to make decisions that everyone likes, just like in life
@@bulbigood6558 lol. you know since i posted that comment they fixed it in a patch so you can fly off with her now right
Also is there no way to keep the emperor alive and the prince 😮
No, if you release the price the emperor will leave and join the netherbrain. It's an either or situation
imo --- freeing orpheus and allying the emperor is actually one of the most logical things that COULD happen if the writers were better ... literally, my enemy is your enemy, so we gotta team up and screw some brains... we will think about the consequences later ... the game has quite a few choices you can make (sadly, the evil choices don't matter much), but i am quite astonished the devs deliberately left this one out (cuzz i am sure they thought about it) ... what did they think? that we will be too overpowered ?
18:18 lmao
18:17 what happened to his head 😂
Tbh This "Emperor" Entity may seem a good nurtured character..but if you look closer he is not....he is cunning,manipulative,and vile, putting power and self preservation over everything....even before the transformation he was most probably a criminal with a hunger for power..... why do you think he went to the moon-rise?? it is safe to assume that for nightsong,for the immortality!
So how is it that you go full illithid and free Orpheus? I’m still trying to understand that
Orpheus is the one protecting your minds throughout the game from the elder brain. If you choose to become one, Orpheus or the Emperor removes the protection for a second so the elder brain can turn you before turning it back on again so you can maintain control.
@@kennyhuynh530so in the ending where Orpheus becomes a mind flayer and kills himself does this mean there’s still a chance the crew can turn into mind flayers or no?
You steal the hammer from Raphael’s house of hope (look up a guide it takes specific dialogue with the archivist). Then you break Orpheus out once you get to this point.
Some fits need to stay in the closet js.
So Lezeal wants to kill Orpheus. I missed some stuff and failed a check so I can’t convince her anymore. What do I do now? I would prefer to keep her but not sure I can.
you've missed the githyanki créche
@@LuizOMenudo yeah I went through the underdark and didn’t know I could do both I ended up just letting the emperor assimilate him so she didn’t really care
How did you get those gloves?
Those look like the gauntlets of strength from Raphael's home.
Flawed helldusk gloves I believe
Gauntlets of hill giant strength, you can Aquire them from the house of hope in act 3, they increase your characters strength stat to 21
Ah yes now if only the game wasn't as bugged as it is so i could actually see the ending I should've gotten in my own game... (im a tad salty)
The game acted like orpheus was dead and that i had turned, which he wasn't and i didn't. I got zero closure with kith'rak voss and had a pretty out of the blue conversation where i managed to convince lae'zel that she has a place here even without orpheus. I love this game but it is still infuriating how many major story/game-breaking bugs i have encountered in a single playthrough.
I didn't like the "save orpheus" option. There's no reason to betray the emperor, and no benefit in doing so. The only reason to start down that path is to experience the house of hope story line.
What about encounter with undead wyrm? You have Emperors true face there, he is not trustworthy.
@@MrSamurajo My understanding is the dragon wanted to kill him because he couldn't cure his illithid state. So it was self defense. There's a letter on the dragon's body confirming it I recall.
@@Peleskiturn back to his hideout and carefully read the stuffs there. You will see the emperor's true color.
Also there is an dream encounter, if you choose correct response you can able to read his mind. You will disappoint what he see you as.
@@vigil4812 The proof of the pudding is that he doesn't betray you in a normal run through. You command him to destroy the brain and he does it.
@@Peleski Why he have to betray PC? That not his target. His primary objective isn't dominate the world, but to survive in general.
That why he choose to kill Ansur to survive, that why he manipulate us to able to survive, also that why he choose to side with the elder brain to survive when we free Orpheus, because most likely Orpheus will not treating him with warmly welcome after all that happened.
Sorry Kids… Cant find a solution where you and all your “lovers” get to ride into the sunset…
Thats the true genius of this game! If Victory was easy, if Sacrifice was painless… it wouldnt be HEROIC!!
Dont like it… you’re not a hero anyways!
Don't worry, we will mod it in.. just like we did with Mass Effect 3 :)
@@SidheKnight That's what MLBeaton said.
How do you get the hammer
Steal it from Raphael’s house of hope.