Of gibbering beasts and beholderkin

[Millstone85]

There are creatures in D&D that really lend themselves to being fused with other creatures. An illithid tadpole can be implanted into the brain of many different things. Dragons are notorious for their recreative use of polymorph spells and the unlikely descendance it leads to. And of course the undead used to be all sorts of things in life. I think that a brainstealer dracolich would make a suitable stand-in for Cthulhu.

But here is a creature that has captured my curiosity: the gibbering orb.

It is a fleshy goo that collects the eyes, teeth and voices of its past victims, which it uses to seek, bite and confuse its current prey. They might actually still live inside of it. This makes the creature like a gibbering mouther.

It also spends most of its time as a ball floating in the air and has many eyestalks from which it can shoot various magical rays. And it is intelligent, albeit in an insane or alien way. This makes the creature like a beholder.

The first appearance of the gibbering orb was in the 3rd edition. It reappeared in the 4th edition, which also introduced the gibbering abomination. This one is like a gibbering mouther with tentacles, very limited flight and a single eye ray.

From left to right, a gibbering mouther, a gibbering abomination, a gibbering orb and a beholder.
Not to scale, but I think that the gibbering orb being huge is overkill and that lesser models should exist.

The gibbering orb was probably just slapped together but it does sound terrifying and cool and it leaves me thinking about its origins in-universe. How would such a creature come to be?

In 3e, it was suggested that the gibbering orb was "perhaps a common ancestor of both the gibbering mouther and the beholderkin". The original model, maybe even truly native to the Far Realm. I don't like this, because the gibbering mouther is supposed to be what happens when corpses are left near a portal to the Far Realm.

It would be much more amusing if a gibbering mouther transformed into a gibbering abomination, then a gibbering orb and finally a beholder. Perhaps that's even how new beholders are cultivated, a shameful secret for the race.

Or maybe the gibbering orb is just a gibbering mouther that ate a beholder. This way, the origins of the beholder remain fully mysterious.

What are the forum's thoughts on the matter? This is not for a campaign. I am just musing.

[LibraryOgre]

A beholder corpse left near a portal to the far realm becomes a gibbering orb? They may be the Beholder/Far Realm equivalent of undead?

[falcon1]

Perhaps some beholders have an eye ray which can gibberize other creatures. When they use them on other beholders, gibbering orbs form

[The Glyphstone]

Gibbering mouthers are the Beholderkin equivalent of a stillbirth or miscarriage, instead of producing a healthy intact new beholder. Beholders normally kill these malformed rejects immediately, but some escape. The ones that survive the world long enough eventually grow into gibbering orbs.

[Millstone85]

So apparently, the soon-to-be-published Volo's Guide to Monsters will (re?)introduce an interesting take on beholder reproduction. A new beholder or beholder-kin is dreamt into existence by a beholder.

For example, a beholder who suffered a severe wound or fought a vampire might have a nightmare about a bloodsucking horror in its own shape, then wake up and find a "death kiss" beholder-kin in its lair. Amusingly, the child might be more afraid of its parent than the converse.

Going with that idea, it is possible that a beholder who heard the voices of a gibbering mouther would later dream of a gibbering orb.

[Lord Torath]

Is the Thaygar (aka Grimgobbler aka Beholder Eater) still a thing? It's from the Lost Ships Spelljammer supplement. It's a floating sphere about 5-6 feet across, with numerous eyes embedded in its surface, and 6-16 "tentacles" each ending in a tooth-filled mouth. They are exceptionally intelligent, and when attacking, go for eyestalks, limbs, and protuberances first.