The first part of the third season of Amazon Prime’s “The Legend of Vox Machina” was finally released Wednesday, Oct. 2. An action-packed fantasy animated by the studio Titmouse (whose credits include “Big Mouth” and “Frog and Toad”), the show follows the escapades of a ragtag group of adventurers, known by the name Vox Machina. This review is relatively spoiler free and concerns itself with the first two episodes of season three, but references story beats from the previous two seasons.
It’s no secret that “The Legend of Vox Machina” is powered by Dungeons & Dragons web series “Critical Role.” Dungeons & Dragons, dubbed “the most popular tabletop RPG” by a 2024 GamesRadar+ article by Benjamin Abbott, is an improvisational game, in which one player (called the Dungeon Master) creates an imaginary world for the rest of the players to interact with. The players create characters inspired by common fantasy tropes, such as elves and dwarves, who act as the heroes of the Dungeon Master’s adventure.
“Critical Role” itself primarily surrounds a series of live Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, with Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer running the story for his friends. “The Legend of Vox Machina” is an adapted-for-television version of “Critical Role’s” first campaign, which ran from 2012 to 2017 with a total of 115 episodes.
Mercer himself has voice credit on video games “Overwatch” and “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” as well as television shows “Blood of Zeus” and “Pokémon Horizons.” His star-studded cast of seven players consists of Travis Willingha, Laura Bailey, Marisha Ray , Taliesin Jaffe, Liam O’Brien, Sam Riegel and Ashley Johnson. Each member of the cast voices their own central character.
Season one of “The Legend of Vox Machina” revolved around the Briarwoods, a villainous couple consisting of a vampire and a necromancer. After Vox Machina defeated the pair, the show shifted focus to the Chroma Conclave, an evil cabal of dragons led by Thordak the Cinder King.
Thordak is voiced by prominent actor Lance Reddick. Reddick, who played Charon in the “John Wick” films, passed away in 2023 due to “natural causes” at the age of 60, according to an article by USA Today. However, his voice lines were recorded before his death, leaving Thordak as one of his final performances.
Season three of “The Legend of Vox Machina” continues where the show left off. Raishan, one of Thordak’s dragons, revealed to the group that Thordak had a clutch of eggs waiting to hatch, which would allow him to populate the world with a dragon army. Raishan urged the group to seek out a powerful magic artifact that could be used to defeat Thordak.
This magical artifact is one of many, collectively known as the Vestiges of Divergence. Although every vestige is different, Vox Machina has slowly been collecting these items as they face each member of the Chroma Conclave. Season 3 seems to primarily concern itself with this specific vestige: a suit of armor called the Plate of the Dawnmartyr. Vox Machina will need to locate the Plate of the Dawnmartyr and harness its power to finally defeat Thordak.
In the same vein as the previous seasons, “The Legend of Vox Machina” also focuses on the interpersonal relationships between the main cast. The first two episodes lean into the budding romance between Keyleth (Ray) and Vax’ildan (O’Brien), as well as Scalan’s (Riegel) struggle to connect with his long-lost daughter.
“The Legend of Vox Machina” has always been a labor of love for the “Critical Role” team, beginning humbly with a Kickstarter that planned only to fund a single 20-minute pilot episode. According to a CNBC article, fans of the show “had shelled out more than $11.3 million, making the fundraiser the most successful film or television project in Kickstarter history. More than 88,000 people contributed to the campaign.” The additional funding allowed for the company to instead create the entire first season of the show, which led to “The Legend of Vox Machina” being picked up by Amazon Prime.
This love for the show is evident in the series itself. In addition to voice acting, every member of the original “Critical Role” cast is an executive producer on “The Legend of Vox Machina,” creating a show that is both faithful to the fans and accessible to newcomers.
Audiences with zero knowledge of “Critical Role” or Dungeons & Dragons may have trouble connecting with certain aspects of the show’s lore and setting, but overall, the show remains open to all levels of experience.
In addition to their show, “Critical Role” is currently airing their Dungeons & Dragons show titled “Bell’s Hells” every Thursday on Twitch, YouTube, and the company’s in-house streaming service Beacon. This is the third campaign that the company has aired, “Vox Machina” being the first.
The second campaign, called “Mighty Nein” is currently being adapted into its own show, which the company announced in a YouTube video from the Prime Video channel on Jan. 25, 2023.
Ultimately, “The Legend of Vox Machina” is an incredible story about a team of misfits who must band together to save their home and in the process become the greatest heroes that their realm has ever seen. Though it is fun and exciting, the show doesn’t shy away from more emotional moments and story beats and pays careful attention to the development of its characters. Although slow at times, the story is always building to a massive payoff.
“The Legend of Vox Machina” is releasing three episodes a week for the next three weeks, with a total of 12 episodes ending on Oct. 24. The show will release these episodes every Thursday on Amazon Prime Video.
Rating: 4.5/5