Fellow NMP blogger The Grumpy Celt posted an interesting piece concerning mind flayers[1]. I found it particularly timely as I’ve recently been working on a painting for my portfolio of one of these lovely tentacled horrors. I have always found the visual qualities of the ‘flayers particularly striking. I remember as a child seeing an image in my local book and game store of one and being drawn to the alien appearance and when I learned more about the twisted diet and mindset, I was hooked. They have always been a favorite villain of mine and so I couldn’t put together a portfolio composed of mostly monsters and not include one.
Mind Flayer Culinarian, illustration by Rob Torno
I started trying to develop a bit of story for who my particular ‘flayer would be, to get into my monsters character and motivation. Normally for me this involves sitting around sketching hairy, horned beasties and trying not to attract too much attention by growling and saying things like ”rawr!” But for the silent and stalking mind flayer I had to think outside my normal ‘monster’ box so I went to one of my other areas of expertise, namely the culinary world. You see, when I’m not drawing and painting monsters or spending time with my family, I’m a chef. And the ‘flayer diet is a primary source of horror for anyone who has faced up to one. So the chef in me started wondering if there were any mind flayer chefs and what they would be like. What tools would they use, what culinary techniques would they apply to attain the best flavor profile from a particular dish. I can’t imagine that such an intelligent and sophisticated race would scoop up a meal from just anywhere without developing the components to the pique of flavor.
And so I imagined my subject to be the Hannibal Lecter of the underdark world, a culinarian supreme. He would stalk a herd of sentient humanoids, observing and selecting only the best for inclusion in his dining experience. After capture and immobilization the subject of his devotion would be prepared for the table over a period of days with a combination of physical and psychological torture to bring out the best possible flavor and texture, a dish to be savored for hours as the former owner of the ingredients is perhaps still conscious. As horrible as he would be to meet, I found myself identifying with my fellow culinarian quite a bit. Not enough to utilize his approach or components, but enough to really like him as a villain.
So I thought I’d post him up here for you good folks. I’m putting up the line drawing as well so anyone who would like to print it off and color it themselves can do so. Use crayons, pens or pixels, whatever you prefer. If you want to expand on his story or use him in you game be my guest. I’d love to see what you come up with.
Mind Flayer Culinarian line art
[1] Mind flayer and Illithid are copyright Wizards of the Coast. The art and references here are presented as fan art.
Hannibal Lecter Mind Flayer?! Oh yeah. Way to take it to the next level!!!
Oh my! I like it! I hope you don’t mind if I use this next time I run a game?? I have to admit, Mind Flayers are a fave of mine as well. More so than Beholders or Dragons. I think I like the cruel calculation the most. I have three favorite Mind Flayer NPC’s if you’re interested.
Glad you both like him.
@ Michael- Use away. It would please me a great deal to know something I came up with was showing up in someone’s game. And I’d love to hear more about your other flayer npc’s (as I’m sure some of the other folks around here would as well).