Afterward: Of Sword & Shield (Emperor x Tav)

Story Notes

Story Notes:

- In the opening scene of Ch. 1 when Astarion and illithid Tav end their relationship, Tav had already made up his mind to better understand the rogue Mind Flayer after taking his time to reflect on his own wants and needs and before agreeing to turn half-illithid via the astral tadpole after the start of Act 3 of BG3 when the Dream Guardian’s identity is revealed—this is the first time non-illithid Tav has ever wanted to do something for themselves in a selfish manner and not out of sympathy and/or empathy for someone they care for. Hence why the break-up was not a struggle for Tav.

- In Ch. 2 when Tav arrives back to the Knights of the Shield’s base from Wither’s reunion party and he struggles to push down his grievances of Karlach, he regrets parts of his past choices made but not all of it—regret for not saving Karlach yet little to no remorse for the falling out of his prior relationship(s) and for deciding to pursue the Mind Flayer.

- At the start of Ch. 3, the heavy lump Tav feels in his chest is not his own but the Emperor’s.

- In Ch. 4 when the Emperor and Tav become one it is their second time fully joining their minds and is the reason to why Tav assumed they were strictly business partners. The Emperor, on the other hand, did not pressure Tav to fully open their mind to them out of respect. So, nothing happened after the defeat of the Netherbrain, and the two rogue mind flayers simply yearned for each other in secrecy and respect while conducting business.

- At the beginning of Ch. 5 the dream Tav has symbolizes the last remanent of his former self and the song Down by the River—with no river involved but a peaceful meadow to represent former Tav’s certain, and un-coaxed, pursuit. Emperor witnessing non-illithid Tav’s final dream confession is meant to be a bittersweet and heartfelt moment, because Emperor got what he has always ached for—the perfect ally—and non-illithid Tav got what he was aggressively chasing after.

- At the end of Ch. 5 the ring Tav hesitates to gift Emperor with are True Love’s Caress and True Love’s Embrace (the wearer of the Caress does not take any damage; only the wearer of Embrace does until 0 HP and/or dead).

- The conversation between Nevine and Tav in the beginning of Ch. 6 represents Nevine and Tav’s compromise of loosening the hold on each other in order to flourish and trust more. It also signifies Tav’s further, and gradual, embrace of his illithid self after he slyly probes Nevine’s mind for the first time, and shows the forwardness of his Illithid nature.

- Emperor’s letter to Tav in Ch. 6 talks about finding a toy maker who specializes in crafting high-end musical boxes. In order to precisely craft the gifted box to Tav, the Emperor had mind controlled the toy maker to do so. Wiping the toy maker’s memory of the frightening encounter after.

- Toward the end of Ch. 6 when the Emperor summons the melody after saying he adjusted it, it signifies the chemistry between Tav and the Emperor, and their relationship—Tav carrying the main melody (piano by itself) and the Emperor adding to the melody heavy depth (accompanying assemblage of multiple instruments).

- While I am unsure, I like to think that the Emperor’s last quote in Ch. 6 is mind flayer speech for ‘I love you’ to illithid Tav. If not, it is probably something beyond that and more. Something we probably can’t fully understand since mind flayers feel deeply and beyond basic levels of emotions—I’d like to assume that is why they can be rather…dramatic to the average sentient being.