Are there any monsters in D&D that would feed on memories/emotions?
I know about illithid and intellect devourers, but I was hoping there might be another type of monster that is known for that stuff. I'm working on an NPC backstory, so the edition of the monster doesn't matter; it's just for backstory purposes. (I don't actually need stats or anything.)
Any information would be a great help!
The Oblex is able to eat the memories of a creature and then impersonate them. Oblexes are highly intelligent oozes created by the mind flayers. They eat memories as a means of gaining sustenance and can use the memories and abilities they gain to hunt other prey.
Shadow Demon (MM, p. 54)
A shadow demon uses its insubstantial claws to feast on its victim's fears, to taste its memories, and drink in its doubts.
Flumph (MM, p. 135)
This one is unusual in not being evil, for a change.
Flumphs feed by siphoning mental energy from psionic creatures, and they can be found lurking near communities of mind flayers, aboleths, githyanki, and githzerai. As passive parasites, they take only the mental energy they need, and most creatures feel no loss or discomfort from such feeding. Consuming psionic energy reveals the thoughts and emotions of the creatures on which the flumphs feed.
Hydroloth (Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Universe, p. 158)
Like the thought-stealing waters of the River Styx they inhabit, hydroloths filch the memories of creatures they attack, stealing away thoughts for delivery to whatever master they happen to serve.
This is not a perfect fit because it's not canonical to any D&D setting, but you said you are open to any editions, so maybe something from homebrew and D&D-adjacent folklore might also interest you: https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html
While it has not yet been printed in any 5th Edition book I'm familiar with, every prior edition has had stats for some version of Obliviax.
In broad strokes, a patch of obliviax can steal memories and even memorized spells, and eating from that same patch can give the eater the stolen memories (and spells, temporarily), though the moss is mildly poisonous.
Different editions have varied about how much obliviax is a plant creature versus a simple natural hazard, as well as how far into the past the memory theft could reach. In 1e it was just a hazard you might stumble into, like green slime or poison ivy, but later editions have granted it the ability to grow an ambulatory moss simulacrum of a person whose memories have been stolen.
A many-eyed aberration that hungers for and steals memories seems appropriate, though I could only find a 3rd party definition for them in 5e.
Otherwise they're also a creature from Japanese folklore if you're interested in the lore around them.
These tentacled aberrations feed on strong emotions, preferring to devour the nightmares of sleeping creatures to minimize the risk to themselves. Smaller feyrs are able to combine to form larger ones. They're typically found in large cities, where strong emotions are more plentiful.
