| 1 | [[WMG:[[center:[-'''''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina''''' '''[[Characters/TheLegendOfVoxMachina Main Character Index]]'''\ |
| 2 | [[Characters/TheLegendOfVoxMachinaVoxMachina Vox Machina]] | [[Characters/TheLegendOfVoxMachinaAlliesAndOtherCharacters Allies and Other Characters]] | '''Villains''']]-]]] |
| 3 | ---- |
| 4 | %%Most recent image change due to https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16986045270.37085000&page=1#comment-1 |
| 5 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 6 | !The Briarwoods |
| 7 | |
| 8 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 9 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bd36ad54_ae88_456e_ac64_0df1b54aa7d9.jpeg]] |
| 10 | A mysterious noble couple who overthrew the de Rolo family, taking over Whitestone as part of their service to the even more enigmatic "Whispered One". |
| 11 | ---- |
| 12 | * ArchEnemy: Inarguably Percy's most hated foes, responsible for massacring all but one of his entire family. |
| 13 | * ArcVillain: They are the main villains of the first season, and Percy's most personal foes as the ones responsible for massacring his family. |
| 14 | * AristocratsAreEvil: A pair made up of an immortal vampire and a BlackMage that made a pact with a demonic entity, murdered the de Rolos and nearly destroyed the city the de Rolos previously ruled over. |
| 15 | * BadBoss: Neither care about the well-being of their servants at all. Sylas throws Desmond off of their carriage and leaves him for Vox Machina so the unrepentant couple can escape and in "A Silver Tongue", Delilah, in retaliation to Vox Machina freeing Cassandra and Keyleth creating [[IconOfRebellion the De Rolo crest]] with the clouds, angrily calls for her steward, only to [[SlashedThroat murder him in cold blood]] and use as a [[BloodMagic sacrifice]] to [[ZombieApocalypse raise an army of murderous zombies]] to battle Vox Machina and by extent punish the citizens of Whitestone. Judging by Sylas' nonchalance towards his wife ''dragging the corpse'' of their employee and ''leaving a trail of blood'', it's more than likely that poor boy was not the first servant Delilah's murdered. |
| 16 | * BigBadDuumvirate: Sylas and Delilah are the dual main villains of the first season as the masterminds behind the Whitestone coup and Percy's primary targets for revenge, which also makes them indirectly responsible for Orthax becoming a secondary threat as the demon preys on Percy's festering hatred to gain a hold over him. While Sylas is the physical powerhouse, Delilah is the driving force behind their reign of terror responsible for the horrors they subject Whitestone to through her necromancy. |
| 17 | * FauxAffablyEvil: They act polite and cordial to most everyone they interact with, but are quick to reveal their monstrous nature. Best exemplified when they invite some of their subjects to a banquet, [[spoiler:only to kill them and hang them on the Sun Tree to mock Vox Machina.]] |
| 18 | * SwordAndSorcerer: Sylas is the dangerous vampire swordsman, while Delilah is the necromancer. |
| 19 | * UnholyMatrimony: By all accounts, the love between these two dark terrors is genuine. They compliment each other, praise their dark deeds, and admire their unholy powers. Delilah in particular compliments Sylas after [[InLoveWithYourCarnage slaughtering a group of bandits that]] [[MuggingTheMonster had no idea what they were messing with]]. [[spoiler:When Sylas finally dies permanently at the hands of Grog and Keyleth, Delilah voices a cosmos-tearing shriek of outrage and despair and, in her grief, attempts to summon The Whispered One to bring Sylas BackFromTheDead]]. |
| 20 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Briarwoods, thanks to Sylas' CharmPerson abilities, are seen as the legitimate rulers of Whitestone by the denizens of Emon, resulting in Vox Machina getting into trouble after their fight with the nobles. |
| 21 | [[/folder]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Lady Delilah Briarwood]] |
| 24 | !!Lady Delilah Briarwood |
| 25 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lady_delilah.png]] |
| 26 | [[caption-width-right:300:''"The Whispered One is coming."'']] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/GreyDeLisle |
| 29 | -->Race: Human |
| 30 | |
| 31 | A powerful necromancer from Wildemount with grave intentions for Whitestone. |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | * AdaptationalDyeJob: In the original campaign, Delilah's hair was auburn while in the TV series, it's dark brown. |
| 34 | * ArcVillain: Of season 1. Even though she shares this role with Sylas, her decision to turn Sylas into a vampire and start their descent into villainy makes Delilah the main antagonist of the first season and the Whitestone arc. |
| 35 | * BlackMage: She became one by making a pact with the Whispered One. |
| 36 | * CastingAShadow: Her magic is black and purple, and it's explicitly shown to be evil. In Episode 4, she summons wraiths to track down one of her lost books with an unholy sigil on the ground. |
| 37 | * DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Sylas' final death at Keyleth's hands causes Delilah to take a terrifying freefall plunge into furious, howling insanity.]] |
| 38 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Delilah was willing to sell her soul to necromancy in order to save her husband Sylas from illness, and her love for him remains her only great redeeming quality even years later. |
| 39 | * EvilCounterpart: Like Percy, Delilah made a DealWithTheDevil out of love. Percy for vengeance for his family, Delilah to save Sylas' life. Unlike Percy who unwittingly bargained and was [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone shocked upon his revelation]], [[HealTheCutie eventually managed to heal from his grief and anger]] and values his friends as his new family, Delilah knew what she was doing and devoted herself to her bargainer, shamelessly doubled down on the deal afterwards and instead of friends has expendable minions. |
| 40 | * GhostlyWail: Her magic is accompanied by banshee-like screaming. |
| 41 | * GothGirlsKnowMagic: She wears a gothic black Victorian dress and uses demonic magic powers. |
| 42 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Her entire motivation is the desire to never be separated from her beloved husband, a fate she considers to be worse than death. But that doesn't stop her from forcing countless innocents to suffer similar losses and then some. |
| 43 | * TheIllegible: Scanlan, who wields similar arcane magic to hers, remarks while deciphering her book that her handwriting is "the worst". |
| 44 | * KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:She dies at Cassandra's hands, after killing her entire family and controlling her for years]]. |
| 45 | * KilledMidSentence: [[spoiler:Courtesy of Cassandra stabbing her in the throat with a saber. Delilah is proudly proclaiming that "the rivers will flow with the blood of-!" before Cassandra provides her pointed counterargument]]. |
| 46 | * LadyOfBlackMagic: Delilah is an elegant and sophisticated woman with dark demonic powers. |
| 47 | * LickedByTheDog: A little girl Delilah has called to her presence is delighted when given the gift of a necklace by Delilah who acts sweetly towards the child. [[spoiler:Shame the girl is the victim Delilah has picked out to be an analogy for Pike for Vedmire to murder and string up dead on the Sun Tree. The necklace was a simulation of Pike's Holy Symbol]]. |
| 48 | * LoveMakesYouEvil: Delilah’s immense love for Sylas was what drove her to turn him into a vampire as she did not want to lose him when he fell ill to a fatal disease. It also drove her to become a wicked dark sorceress who dabbles in necromancy. |
| 49 | * MoralMyopia: Delilah's logic operates like this: If she kills and tortures ''hundreds of people'' [[WouldHurtAChild regardless of age]]? [[SarcasmMode Oh well, you can't make a good omelet without breaking some eggs.]] You kill her husband? Then you're a heartless, immoral monster who took away her reason for living and ''no one'' has it worse than her. |
| 50 | * {{Necromancer}}: Delilah is a very powerful necromancer, raising dangerous wraiths to retrieve her missing book and a giant horde of undead to snuff out the rebellion in Whitestone. |
| 51 | * {{Necromantic}}: She became a necromancer to save the love of her life, Sylas, and bring him back from the dead as a vampire. |
| 52 | * OfCorsetsSexy: She wears a purple corset over her black dress, accentuating her hour-glass figure. |
| 53 | * PurpleIsPowerful: She's a powerful arcane caster in a position of authority (Lady of Whitestone) and has purple eyes. Her black magic has purple edges as well. |
| 54 | %%zce* SlashedThroat: [[spoiler:Courtesy of Cassandra.]] |
| 55 | * TalkToTheFist: [[spoiler:She's mid-[[TheResonYouSuckSpeech rant]] towards Vox Machina and preparing to cast another dark magic spell when Cassandra [[KilledMidSentence shuts up Delilah with a rapier through the throat]]. Delilah can only feebly choke and gurgle on her own blood before Cassandra nearly takes her whole head off pulling the blade out]]. |
| 56 | * VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Delilah is beyond distraught when Keyleth kills Sylas, and attempts to summon her patron the Whispered One...only to fail at the last second. She invites Percy to kill her because he can't possibly take any more from her, but his Orthax-induced threats of torturing her to death frighten even her.]] |
| 57 | * WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Orders the death of two children (which Duke Vedmire is only too happy to perform) as part of her attempt to send a message to Vox Machina. She has a Whitestone civilian murdered for each member of Vox Machina—hung on the Sun Tree in the center of town and using two human children as the analogues for Scanlan and Pike]]. |
| 58 | * WickedWitch: Delilah’s use of necromancy and dark magic along with wearing dark colored outfits indicates that she is indeed an evil witch. |
| 59 | [[/folder]] |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[folder:Lord Sylas Briarwood]] |
| 62 | !!Lord Sylas Briarwood |
| 63 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lord_sylas.png]] |
| 64 | [[caption-width-right:300:''"You are a curious one... And you look delicious."'']] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer |
| 67 | -->Race: Human vampire |
| 68 | |
| 69 | Delilah's husband, a powerful vampire and ruthless swordsman in his own right. |
| 70 | ---- |
| 71 | * AdaptationalBadass: In the first fight against Vox Machina in ''Critical Role'', he took one heck of a beating and only barely escaped. In this show, it's a CurbStompBattle in his favor. The only thing that happens to Sylas is [[CurbStompCushion a small cut from Grog's axe that his vampirism can't heal]], and it doesn't even seem to bother him all that much. |
| 72 | * BeardOfEvil: A well-trimmed goatee, fitting for an evil vampire lord. |
| 73 | * BlackSwordsAreBetter: Wields Craven Edge, a black blade that feeds on blood to grow bigger and [[SummonToHand can be magically summoned to his hand]]. |
| 74 | * CharmPerson: He has a vampire's innate charm abilities, which he demonstrates by mentally dominating the Sovereign over dinner into leaving Whitestone's independence unchallenged and later making Vax leave himself defenseless to be bitten. |
| 75 | * CoolSword: He has a [[BlackSwordsAreBetter black-bladed sword]] that feeds on blood (not only making it larger with more blood it "feeds" on, but also changing its appearance slightly) and can be magically summoned to hand. [[spoiler:After Grog helps Keyleth kill him, he decides to [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt keep it]] in addition to his Axe]]. |
| 76 | * DevilishHairHorns: Downplayed in that Sylas' hairstyle isn't shaped like horns, but he has two thin, grey streaks of hair that resemble thin horns from certain angles. |
| 77 | * DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the webshow, his body was downed by Percy's gunfire before Keyleth destroyed his gaseous form with ''Sunbeam''. Here, while he still dies from the same spell, Grog grabs Sylas and holds him in place for Keyleth to incinerate his body directly. |
| 78 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The love that Delilah has for him is very much mutual on his part. |
| 79 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 80 | ** Downplayed, but he does seem rather perturbed, albeit briefly, by Delilah murdering their steward to use as fuel for her necromantic ritual. |
| 81 | ** He seems taken aback when Grog accuses him of seducing him during their rematch. |
| 82 | * FangsAreEvil: He has the typical vampire fangs and he uses his bite to mind-control others. |
| 83 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: Pay attention when he and Delilah are returning to their room and one can notice his distinct lack of a reflection in a mirror they pass, a few minutes before his vampiric nature is revealed by biting Vax. |
| 84 | * HealingFactor: Conventional weapon attacks will just be healed a few seconds later. That being said, these attacks definitely still hurt, even if they aren't fatal; Grog slamming his axe into the vampire's stomach stuns Sylas long enough for Grog to grab him, which sets up [[spoiler:Keyleth using an enormous beam of holy light to render Sylas ReducedToDust]]. |
| 85 | * HolyBurnsEvil: Since he's a vampire, holy-based attacks hurt him in a way that his HealingFactor can't regenerate from. When Pike enchants Grog's axe with holy energy, a slash to Sylas on the midsection doesn't heal. Grog even says "I'll bet that hurt!" upon seeing it. [[spoiler:He's also KilledOffForReal when he's hit with a massive beam of holy light from Keyleth.]] |
| 86 | * HungryWeapon: While not very explicit, his blade is also a bloodsucker like he is and it actually grows bigger once it consumed enough of Grog's blood during the first fight between Vox Machina and the Briarwoods. |
| 87 | -->"My blade thirsts." |
| 88 | * KillItWithFire: A variation. [[spoiler:He is completely incinerated by Keyleth's light magic going at full power when Grog has him restrained]]. |
| 89 | * NoSell: His reaction to Grog's [[GroinAttack balltag]] is an annoyed look and nothing more. |
| 90 | * ReducedToDust: [[spoiler:Keyleth's spell chars his body to a partially skeletal husk which quickly turns to dust in Grog's arms.]] |
| 91 | * VampiresAreSexGods: Played with; the scene where he charms Vax and bites his neck while Delilah looks on is framed rather erotically, but during the battle at the ziggurat when Grog outright claims that the vampire swordsman is [[StupidSexyFlanders trying to seduce him]], Sylas is momentarily baffled, either because he has his limits or because Grog accused him so casually. |
| 92 | [[/folder]] |
| 93 | |
| 94 | !!!Associates |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Professor Anders]] |
| 97 | !! Professor Byron Anders |
| 98 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prof_anders.png]] |
| 99 | |
| 100 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/StephenRoot |
| 101 | -->Race: Human |
| 102 | |
| 103 | The former tutor of the de Rolo children who betrayed the family to the Briarwoods. |
| 104 | ---- |
| 105 | * AdaptationalBadass: In the original, he's only able to charm one person at a time, but here he takes control of all members of Vox Machina sans Percy. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Had he bothered to control Percy as well instead of trying to draw the latter's demise out, he likely could have defeated the whole party by himself.]] |
| 106 | %%* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:A point blank one at that, with a decent does of YourHeadAsplode]]. |
| 107 | * BreakTheHaughty: Over the course of one episode, Anders goes from being a [[SmugSnake pompous]], sadistic, arrogant son of a bitch to a bug-eyed, [[AintTooProudToBeg cowering]] worm [[VillainsWantMercy at the mercy]] of [[HourGlassPlot the kid he helped imprison and torture, who is now grown up and out for his blood]]. |
| 108 | * CaughtMonologuing: {{Downplayed}}. After Anders [[BrainwashedAndCrazy takes control of Vox Machina]], he can't resist indulging in some EvilGloating, which Percy draws out by appealing to his massive ego. [[LampshadeHanging Anders realises what Percy's doing in playing to his ego]], but Anders has already given Percy all the time he needs to [[ImprobableAimingSkills pull off his trick shot]]. |
| 109 | * CharmPerson: Thanks to the Briarwoods gifting him with a magical tongue, he is able to take control of first Grog, then the rest of Vox Machina to turn them against Percy. |
| 110 | * CompositeCharacter: Downplayed, but Anders has a manor in Whitestone, and invading it to take him down requires Scanlan rampaging through Duke Vedmire's mansion as a distraction; in the original campaign, that role belonged to Count Tylieri, and the battle with Anders to rescue Cassandra instead occurred in Whitestone Castle itself. |
| 111 | * TheDragon: As their first collaborator, the primary betrayer of the de Rolo family, and the one who benefits the most from the new management, Anders functions as this to Delilah and Sylas. |
| 112 | * DudeWheresMyRespect: His motivation for joining the Briarwoods and turning on the de Rolos, as he believed Percy's parents saw him as a mere tutor and repeatedly turned down his proposals to increase residuum production. |
| 113 | * FacialHorror: [[spoiler:Percy blows his face in half, [[TongueTrauma tearing his tongue out]] and [[{{Jawbreaker}} unhinging his jaw]] in the process. And this doesn't even kill him]]. |
| 114 | * FasterThanTheyLook: He's a middle-aged, heavyset man who looks like Humpty Dumpty, but is quick and agile enough to dodge many of Percy's shots. |
| 115 | * FatBastard: Overweight and very, very evil. |
| 116 | * FlunkyBoss: While Anders does briefly fight personally against Percy, he spends the rest of the fight standing in the back and letting his minions fight in his place. Mixed in with his CharmPerson capabilities that also extends to using Percy's own friends against him. |
| 117 | * ForgottenFallenFriend: The Briarwoods gave him [[CompellingVoice a literal silver tongue that has the power to mind-control others,]] allowed him to pursue his experiments and treated him as a valued ally. However, [[YourHeadAsplode after Percy shot him out of the window turning his head into a bloody smear on the pavement]] neither Delilah nor Sylas mourn him that much, if at all. We see Delilah become angered when [[IconOfRebellion the de Rolo crest was formed in the clouds, courtesy of Keyleth and her weather magic]], but more so because of Vox Machina's victory instead of vengeance for Anders. |
| 118 | * FourEyesZeroSoul: Wears round glasses and he's a despicable individual who betrayed his patrons and aided in the murder of the de Rolos. |
| 119 | * HateSink: While Anders did believe the de Rolos looked down on him and didn't appreciate him, his personal feelings pale in comparison to the amount of despicable things he did. He betrayed the de Rolos, including their children; he worked with the Briarwoods to oppress Whitestone; he slit Cassandra’s throat in front of Percy; and he attempted to force Vox Machina to kill Percy out of pure sadism. |
| 120 | * ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: For Percy, it's very much personal with all five of his targets, but as he points out to Anders before giving him an explosive CoupDeGrace through the head, being his personal tutor and then outing him and Cassandra to the Briarwoods out of spite against his family when they trusted him to see them safe cut him ''deep''. Having just sliced Cassandra's throat in front of him and then trying to give him a sadistic drawn-out death at the hands of his friends didn't improve his feelings towards his old teacher either. |
| 121 | -->'''Percy:''' We trusted you. You were our teacher. We would have done anything you asked. And you betrayed us when we needed you most. ''You're the face I saw when murder entered my heart.'' |
| 122 | * KarmicDeath: For as long as the audience has seen him, Professor Anders has been associated with talking. As he teacher, he gives long lectures to the de Rolo children, is fond of doling out TheReasonYouSuck speeches to Percy and Cassandra and [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead a posthumous one to their deceased mother, calling her a "bitch"]] and most famously uses his [[CompellingVoice literal silver tongue to mind control others to his will]]. He dies by getting his [[FacialHorror jaw shot off]] which [[TongueTrauma severs his tongue, his most valuable tool, completely from his mouth.]] |
| 123 | * LivingApart: [[spoiler:More dying apart than living apart, but when Percy shoots off Anders' magical tongue it tries to crawl off and escape on its own; Grog stabs it with an arrow while Percy deals with the rest of Anders]]. |
| 124 | * MoreDespicableMinion: Delilah and Sylas are no doubt the main antagonists who commit enough evil acts of such heinousness to shock a Mafia hitman, yet both Briarwoods have many fans because of their charisma, sympathetic backstories and [[UnholyMatrimony genuine love for each other]]. However, ''no one'' has ''anything nice'' to say about Professor Anders. For starters, he [[SinsOfOurFathers blames Cassandra and Percy for their parents denying his scientific ambitions]], [[ForScience which seem to be only fueled by Ander's overbloated ego and irrepressible desire for power]] instead of society's benefit, [[UngratefulBastard shows no appreciation for the de Rolos supposed free room and board in their castle]],[[TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil murders most of the De Rolos and turns Percy and Cassandra over to Dr. Ripley and the Briarwoods to be imprisoned and tortured for information neither one had]], wholeheartedly aids in oppressing the citizens of Whitestone, slits Cassandra's throat right in front of Percy and mocks them about it, [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead calls Percy's mother a "bitch"]] and mind-controls Vox Machina to attack Percy. Needless to say, no one was sad to see Percy take Anders off the list. |
| 125 | * PersonalityPowers: In Percy's flashback in the prior episode, Anders demonstrated frustration at Cassandra ignoring his lesson to mess with Percy, as well as Lord de Rolo refusing his suggestions to improve residuum production—in other words, a dislike of people ignoring him or disobeying his commands. The Briarwoods’ gift ensures that nobody can ever ignore him or his orders ever again. Ironically, Percy, the one person who apparently always listened to his lessons and behaved himself as a model student, is the one person he never controls with the ability, out of a sadistic desire to torment him. |
| 126 | * SinsOfOurFathers: Anders attempts to kill Cassandra and Percy because he felt slighted by their parents after all of his greater ambitions were shut down. Cassandra and Percy had been nothing but loyal to Anders, Percy even saying "we would have done anything you asked". But Anders wanted his vengeance and his ego sated, and it cost him ''dearly.'' |
| 127 | * SmugSnake: Anders is smug and confident throughout the entire encounter with Vox Machina, toying with them and taking his time with killing them. His overconfidence proves his undoing as he doesn't mind control Percy but instead intends to let his friends kill him, only for Percy to shoot him with a trick shot. |
| 128 | * TreacheryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: While all five of the targets Percy is hunting are terrible people, Anders' [[{{Slimeball}} slimy]] and treacherous actions make him stand out among the others as a particularly despicable piece of work. Especially since Anders |
| 129 | * VillainBall: While having the last target of revenge at his mercy, Anders saw fit to draw out the demise by making Percy's friends kill him instead, which gave Percy an opening to shoot his jaw off. |
| 130 | * WickedCultured: As a professor by trade, Anders is incredibly erudite, intellectual, and well-spoken, and his voice actor Creator/StephenRoot emphasizes this with an upper-class accent circa early 1900's America, not unlike what old recordings of the Presidents sounded like. He's also a petty, sadistic traitor and easily one of the most unlikable people in the entire first season. |
| 131 | * YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:A point-blank shot through the roof of his mouth into his head is what kills him after Percy blasts Anders with the List, sending him out a window. When the camera shows his corpse, his head is nothing but a red smear on the ground]]. |
| 132 | [[/folder]] |
| 133 | |
| 134 | [[folder:Kerrion Stonefell]] |
| 135 | !!Sir Kerrion Stonefell |
| 136 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stonefell.png]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DarinDePaul |
| 139 | -->Race: Duergar |
| 140 | |
| 141 | Captain of the guard for the Briarwoods. A disgusting, evil mess of a man. |
| 142 | ---- |
| 143 | * AdaptationalUgliness: Is human and described as having an almost boyish charm in the original campaign, but in the animated series is a [[{{Gonk}} fat bald man who is described as a disgusting, evil mess]]. |
| 144 | * AdaptationalVillainy: Much more openly sadistic and cruel in the animated series. |
| 145 | * AnArmAndALeg: His left arm is severed at the shoulder just before Percy kills him. |
| 146 | * BadBoss: At one point he kneecaps one of his own men in order to bring the poor sod down to the proper height for Stonefell to use him as a human shield. |
| 147 | * BaldOfEvil: Adding to his ugliness and his evilness, Kerrion has no hair at all on his head. |
| 148 | * CompositeCharacter: His AdaptationalUgliness is largely the result of taking on the rotund form and disgusting physical appearance of [[AdaptedOut Count Tylieri]]. His nature as a hammer wielding Duergar who serves as the arc’s StarterVillain also harkens to the unnamed Duergar General from the stream’s Underdark arc. |
| 149 | * FatBastard: Stonefell is small, pudgy, and singularly repulsive in looks, morals, and personality. |
| 150 | * {{Gonk}}: Kerrion is a grotesque and disgusting mess of a man, as ugly as he is evil. |
| 151 | * MoreDespicableMinion: Sylas and Delilah are obviously a more serious threat and commit '''plenty''' of monstrously evil acts on-screen, [[WhamEpisode the ending of "Fate's Journey", anyone?]] However, Delilah's descent into villainy was [[LoveMakesYouEvil to save her beloved husband from succumbing to a rare fatal disease]] which makes her motive a bit more sympathetic with fans than if she turned to villainy simply for power or other selfish desires. Also, both Sylas and Delilah [[UnHolyMatrimony are still openly affectionate with and protect each other even after all these years]], and are charismatic and entertaining enough to endear themselves to fans and casual viewers. Meanwhile, Stonefell has ''no'' love for anyone beyond himself (he is respectful and obedient to the Briarwoods, but mainly because they let him run a ''pseudo Spanish Inquisition'' for rebels who try to take Whitestone back), commits sadistic acts of torture and murder for no other reason than [[ForTheEvulz sheer enjoyment]], which he even admitted in an episode and has little to no characterization beyond being a sadistic, murderous toadie for the real antagonists. |
| 152 | * RaceLift: In the original campaign he is a human, but the blueish-grey color of his skin, his brutish features and especially his short size paired with his stocky build imply that he is a Duergar in the series. |
| 153 | * StarterVillain: The first named antagonist to be confronted in Whitestone. |
| 154 | * StoutStrength: He has a notable girth, but wields his hammer with enough strength to bash someone's head in with a single strike. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Goran Vedmire]] |
| 158 | !!Duke Goran Vedmire |
| 159 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duke_goran_vedmire.png]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/RoryMcCann |
| 162 | -->Race: Goliath |
| 163 | |
| 164 | A mercenary turned lord under the Briarwoods with a knack for torture. |
| 165 | ---- |
| 166 | * ActorAllusion: Thanks to Scanlan, Vedmire loses about half of his face to burn scars and comes out looking nearly identical to his actor's [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane most famous role]]. He's also bald with massive sideburns, like Tywin Lannister, as well as freakishly strong and outlandishly violent, like Gregor Clegane. |
| 167 | * AdaptationalBadass: In the original webshow, he was only a mild threat to Scanlan when the latter raided his mansion, and was defeated and captured offscreen by the people of Whitestone. Here, Scanlan barely makes it out with his life during the first encounter with him. Later, Goran returns with a pack of giant zombies, nearly kills Scanlan ''again'' and [[spoiler:kills Archie in combat]]. |
| 168 | * BaldOfEvil: Being a goliath means he has no hair and he's a brutal enforcer of the Briarwoods. |
| 169 | * {{BFS}}: Vedmire wields a large executioner's greatsword with a rounded and wide tip. Very fitting for a person serving as enforcer and executioner for the Briarwoods. |
| 170 | * DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:In the webshow, he was spared by the people of Whitestone in exchange for him being forced to help rebuild the city. Here, after killing Archie, Percy shoots him in the leg and then lets the citizens of Whitestone do the rest.]] |
| 171 | * EgomaniacHunter: Implied. His mansion is filled with taxidermies and trophies of various creatures, and he makes a remark about usually being the one hunting beasts in ''their'' domain as a [[{{Animorphism}} polymorphed]] Scanlan wreaks havoc inside. |
| 172 | * HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Kills the rebellion leader Archibald Desnay]] |
| 173 | * KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Percy incapacitates him in retribution for Archie's death, but because he's not on Percy's [[GottaKillEmAll revenge list]], he decides not to kill him personally, instead calling upon the citizens of Whitestone, whom Vedmire had helped to brutally oppress, to [[DoWithHimAsYouWill have their way with him]]. They oblige, and Vedmire is hanged from the Sun Tree just as he had done to many innocent townsfolk.]] |
| 174 | * NeckLift: Vedmire lifts up Archibald by the neck during his interrogation, slamming him against the wall and choking him. |
| 175 | * OneHandedZweihander: Being a super strong goliath, Vedmire has no issue swinging around that large greatsword of his with just one hand. |
| 176 | * ScrewThisImOutOfHere: [[spoiler:Attempts this when the battle turns against the Briarwood forces, only for Percy to shoot out his leg and then [[CruelMercy leave him to the mercy of the long-oppressed people of Whitestone]]]]. |
| 177 | * ToiletHumour: In the episode "Scanbo", Scanlan tries to sneak into Vedmire's house to create a distraction for the rest of Vox Machina. Unfortunately, he finds himself in the privvy, and Vedmire is on the toilet itself at the time taking a poop. |
| 178 | * TrophyRoom: Has a room in his house filled with trophies of beasts and animals that he's hunted, including the skull of a triceratops somehow. After Scanlan ends up pissing him off with his intrusion, he intends to add his head to the wall. |
| 179 | * VillainousGoldTooth: He noticeably has a few gold teeth, implying he lost them in a fight and '''[[GoldToothOfWealth replaced them once he became a wealthy lord]]''' under the Briarwoods. A former mercenary, he has a knack for torture and works as a brutal enforcer/executioner. |
| 180 | * ViolentGlaswegian: Creator/RoryMcCann tones down his powerful native accent to a growling burr that is nonetheless audibly Scottish. As for the "violent" part, [[spoiler:he tears a man's ear off with his ''fingers'' in his opening scene]]. |
| 181 | * WouldHurtAChild: Reveals that he strung up the children from the Sun Tree while taunting Scanlan in "Scanbo". |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Doctor Anna Ripley]] |
| 185 | !!Doctor Anna Ripley |
| 186 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ripley_8.png]] |
| 187 | |
| 188 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KellyHu |
| 189 | -->Race: Human |
| 190 | |
| 191 | An ally of the Briarwoods, and one of the targets on The List. |
| 192 | ---- |
| 193 | * AdaptationalVillainy: Sat out the conflict with the Chroma Conclave in the original stream, but here she actively aids Umbrasyl in stealing a Vestige of Divergence. |
| 194 | * AdaptationExpansion: Takes a bigger role in the Chroma Conclave arc. In the stream, she was the ArcVillain of one of the many subplots during this storyline, providing Vox Machina with competition in chasing the Vestiges of Divergence, but she did this with the aid of mercenaries and her own bargain with Orthax, remaining uninvolved in the affairs of the Conclave. Here, she's directly connected to one of the dragons and takes a more prominent presence in the storyline. |
| 195 | * AnArmAndALeg: Lost her right hand while trying to create her own firearm. |
| 196 | * ArtificialLimbs: After her escape she replaces her missing hand with a metallic one. |
| 197 | * BigBadDuumvirate: Downplayed with her alliance with Umbrasyl. The Chroma Conclave are the overriding villains in Season 2, but it is Ripley's deal with Umbrasyl that poses the [[TheHeavy biggest immediate threat]] after she informs him of Vox Machina's quest for the Vestiges of Divergence and the strength the weapons could grant him, resulting in the two teaming up to hunt down the artifacts and oversee the pillaging of Westruun in their mutual pursuit of greater power. Umbrasyl, for his part, seems to consider Ripley a legitimate partner, allowing her to ride on his back and backtalk the likes of both the Herd and even Thordak himself. |
| 198 | * BigBadEnsemble: Acts as one of the main villains, along with Thordak and Umbrasyl, for Season 2. While Thordak is the clear overriding threat, and Ripley herself never personally interacts with Vox Machina in this season, her alliance with Umbrasyl is what causes him to interrupt the hunt for the Vestiges, severely derailing Vox Machina's plans and creating a secondary threat when Umbrasyl's ambitions begin causing him to split from his master. |
| 199 | * CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Percy is talked into letting her live when they find her imprisoned in the castle dungeon because she's the only one who has even the faintest idea of what the Briarwoods' endgame is. |
| 200 | * DragonAscendant: Ripley served as one of the Briarwoods' very first conspirators, a chief player in both the slaughter of the de Rolo family and the torture of the survivors, and one of the architects of the ziggurat summoning ritual, though this alliance has considerably soured and she has lost the role to Anders by the time Vox Machina arrives in Whitestone. She is nonetheless the only one of the Briarwoods' associates to escape the city unscathed, going on to enact her own plans with the Chroma Conclave as one of the main villains of season 2. |
| 201 | * EnemyMine: After she was thrown in the dungeon by the Briarwoods when her usefulness came to an end, Ripley had no love for them and offers her aid in helping Vox Machina thwart their scheme. It takes a lot of convincing to persuade Percy to stay his hand long enough to reach the Ziggurat. |
| 202 | * EvilCounterpart: Like Percy, she's a brilliant engineer. She was even trying to make her own guns. |
| 203 | * HiddenAgendaVillain: [[spoiler:In Season 2, after learning of Vox Machina's plans to collect the Vestiges of Divergence via [[SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands scrying]], she informs Umbrasyl of the party's intentions and encourages the vile black dragon to collect the Vestiges for himself. Ripley, however, seems to have other plans for the relics, and mentions in episode 11 that she's helping the dragon in exchange for "resources." Regardless of whether this refers to his aid or the Vestiges themselves, it's clear she's got her own scheme on the go, and there's no telling what it is]]. |
| 204 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: After everything she's put Percy through, including murdering his parents and (seemingly) his little sister right in front of him, she ''genuinely'' believes she can talk Percy into becoming partners in episode 11. Percy's answer is obviously 'no'. |
| 205 | * IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: When torturing Percy for information doesn't work, she moves to torturing Cassandra in front of him (and vice-versa, according to Cassandra's traumatic memory flashes). |
| 206 | * KarmaHoudini: |
| 207 | ** Zig-zagged. Working with the Briarwoods to dispose of the majority of the de Rolos got her thrown into a dungeon when she attempted to leave after the job was done. However, she is the only one out of the Briarwoods' henchmen [[spoiler:who survives the events in Whitestone and escapes unscathed to live another day.]] |
| 208 | ** [[spoiler:After manipulating Umbrasyl into collecting the vestiges, which results in massive strife for Vox Machina and those around them, Ripley escapes completely undetected when the dragon is killed, free to regroup and continue her plans again]]. |
| 209 | * ManipulativeBitch: She feeds Umbrasyl promises of vast power that the Vestiges could grant him after leading him to Mythcarver, sending the black dragon into an obsession with the artifacts and driving a wedge between him and Thordak--although the Hope Devourer is slain before she can get him to outright turn against the Cinder King. |
| 210 | * NonActionBigBad: Ripley's lack of fighting prowess or magical abilities means she generally stays out of direct conflict. She instead manipulates Umbrasyl into doing all of the heavy lifting in recovering the Vestiges, never once confronting Vox Machina throughout season 2--the only interaction they have with her is when Scanlan spies on her and Umbrasyl meeting with the Herd, and he completely fails to recognize her. |
| 211 | * PetTheDog: She saves Percy from being impaled by one of her traps. Though knowing her, it's likely she was just attempting to manipulate him into letting her go. |
| 212 | * PsychoForHire: Ripley is no more than an exceptionally talented, exceptionally amoral mercenary who helped the Briarwoods massacre the de Rolo family for her own benefit. |
| 213 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: |
| 214 | ** After leading Vox Machina to the ziggurat, [[spoiler:Ripley makes her escape before the battle with the Briarwoods is joined, saying that that was more than she signed up for.]] |
| 215 | ** [[spoiler:She tries convincing Umbrasyl to escape with her and cut their losses after he flees Vox Machina's trap. When he refuses and decides to stay and fight, she doesn't involve herself and leaves unscathed while he is killed by the party]]. |
| 216 | * TheSociopath: Outright called this in the series itself, and it's not hard to see why. Ripley seems to have no emotional attachment to anyone at all, betrays whoever she must and switches sides at the drop of a hat to save her own skin, and is willing to murder and torture for personal gain without so much as a change in expression. She also doesn't seem to process fear to any rational human degree, taking Percy's Orthax-empowered threats to her life and later scaling a lake of acid in cold, professional stride. |
| 217 | * TortureTechnician: Brutally tortured Percy and Cassandra when they were children. |
| 218 | * VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:She escapes before the final confrontation with the Briarwoods, Percy being unable to stop her without his pepperbox alerting the Briarwoods, and promises him that WeWillMeetAgain.]] |
| 219 | * VillainRespect: She acknowledges Percy as a brilliant fellow scientist and attempts several times to converse with him about weapon technology. In episode 11 she even goes so far as to offer him a partnership, and seems honestly disappointed when he declines. |
| 220 | * VillainTeamUp: Ends up forming an alliance with Umbrasyl in the second season, helping him to track down Vox Machina and steal the Mythcarver. |
| 221 | * WouldHurtAChild: She tortured Percy and Cassandra for information about the De Rolo family and the properties of residuum. In Episode 10, this is shown with a flashback of Ripley slicing a young Percy's chest open with a hook. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Craven Edge]] |
| 225 | !!Craven Edge |
| 226 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/craven_edge_0.png]] |
| 227 | [[caption-width-right:350:"I hunger always."]] |
| 228 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer |
| 229 | |
| 230 | Sylas Briarwood's personal sword, later claimed by Grog after the noble's death. Unfortunately for him, the blade is more than it appears. |
| 231 | ---- |
| 232 | * AdaptationalBadass: Craven Edge was just a sentient, bloodthirsty sword in the game, and any control it exerted over Grog was simple, mundane manipulation. Here, it is able to magically influence the Barbarian. Even when it is destroyed, it unleashes a massive burst of magic that drains Grog's strength. |
| 233 | * AdaptationalSeriousness: While it was a pretty horrifying weapon in the stream, it was treated as TheComicallySerious and its hold on Grog and his attempts to hide it from the others was oftentimes source for dark comedy. Here, the corruptive hold it has on Grog is more readily PlayedForDrama and treated not unlike a drug addiction. |
| 234 | * AdaptationalWimp: Craven Edge’s last action is to sap Grog of his strength. In the stream, Craven Edge sucked out his soul and killed him. |
| 235 | * BlackSwordsAreBetter: Not only is it a black blade, it also feeds on blood, growing bigger and meaner-looking the more blood it drinks, and can be [[SummonToHand magically summoned by Sylas]]. |
| 236 | * CompellingVoice: The sword can communicate with Grog, but he just assumes is a normal thing to communicate with an evil black sword taken from an even more evil vampire like it was his closest friend. Later, when he fights off the fish-people, the sword talks again and compels Grog to kill as much and as brutally as possible to feed its own hunger for blood. |
| 237 | * CoolSword: It feeds on blood (not only making it larger with more blood it "feeds" on, but also changing its appearance slightly) and Sylas can magically summon it to hand. |
| 238 | * TheCorruptor: Begins influencing Grog into more unnecessary, sadistic violence, something that Pike notices rather quickly, leaving her quite disturbed by her companion's sudden change in behavior. |
| 239 | * DeathByAdaptation: Gets snapped in half by Grog, rather than being sealed in a demiplane like in the original stream. |
| 240 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: For the life of it, Craven Edge ''can't understand why'' Grog won't just kill Pike and Scanlan to feed him and increase Grog's strength. |
| 241 | * EvilWeapon: Craven Edge is nothing else than a malevolent sword who forces its wielder to kill nonstop. |
| 242 | %%* {{Expy}}: Of [[Literature/TheElricSaga Stormbringer]], a malevolent sword that influences its wielder into bloodthirsty violence. |
| 243 | * HungryWeapon: Craven Edge has a mind of its own, constantly hungering for more bloodshed. |
| 244 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Despite its corruption of Grog being played dead seriously, it actually ''sighs'' when Grog farts in its presence. |
| 245 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Like Percy's pepperbox in the season before it, Craven Edge is a sentient, malevolent weapon that tries to corrupt its wielder. |
| 246 | * StupidEvil: For all its manipulation, Craven Edge isn't ''quite'' as intelligent and long-planning as you may think. Craven Edge made ''no attemp'' to curb its hunger and eventually [[spoiler: demanded Pike's blood when Grog couldn't feed him right away and even soaked up some of it after she was near-fatally impaled by Grog and Craven Edge.]] This is the first sign to Grog that the sword stolen from an evil vampire ''might not'' be on the up-and-up. One Youtube commentor has this to say: |
| 247 | --> [[CouldveAvoidedThisPlot This could've worked]] if the damned sword made out an agreement to only feed on the blood of their enemies instead of being a gluttonous bastard and asking for EVERYONE'S blood. |
| 248 | * TakingYouWithMe: Screams this at Grog when he musters up the nerve to destroy it. While it tries to make good on this, Grog survives, albeit reduced to an emaciated husk. |
| 249 | * WeaponWieldsYou: Craven Edge takes control over Grog's mind several time and makes him kill everything in his path. |
| 250 | [[/folder]] |
| 251 | |
| 252 | [[folder:The Whispered One]] |
| 253 | !!The Whispered One |
| 254 | -->Race: Lich |
| 255 | |
| 256 | The undead patron of the Briarwoods and the true mastermind behind their plans in Whitestone. |
| 257 | ---- |
| 258 | * AntiMagic: The black orb that manifests in his location after Delilah's ritual failed has this effect, nullifying Scanlan's bardic magic, banishing Pike's Astral projection, and negating any magical effects caused by their healing elixirs. This is a problem, as Delilah ran Keyleth through with a spike of dark magic before he was summoned, forcing Vox Machina to retreat a safe distance from the orb until they can use magic again to try and heal her. |
| 259 | * CompositeCharacter: Even moreso than in the source material, the Whispered One has elements of both the classic ''[=D&D=]'' Vecna (the ability to be an ethereal presence, vaguely divine-esque powers including anti-magic, and eye and hand symbology) and of ''[=Pathfinder=]''[='s=] Tar-Baphon (heavy use of proxies and a dedicated group of necromancers and other students of undeath, deep hatred of other divinities, needing to be "unsealed" to act upon the world again, and the use of "whisper" in his title). |
| 260 | * TheCorrupter: Very heavily implied. Though the show doesn't give viewers a completely clear read on what the Briarwoods were like before Delilah made her pact with her patron, what little we do see of her, at least, is very far from the deranged, tyrannical {{Hypocrite}} she became under the Whispered One's influence. |
| 261 | * DealWithTheDevil: It was sheer desperation and heartbreak that drove Delilah to seek any means to bring back Sylas, leading to her bargaining with the Whispered One to return her husband in exchange for the couple entering his employ to summon him into the world. |
| 262 | * EarlyBirdCameo: He makes two very short appearances far earlier than his debut in the livestream, once when Delilah's performs her ritual and earlier when he scares Pike (and the audience) half to death by [[JumpScare rushing towards her at lightning speed]] during her communion with the Everlight. |
| 263 | * GreaterScopeVillain: Delilah and Sylas are the chief antagonists of the story arc in Whitestone and Vox Machina's targets, but the duo are ultimately the servants of a higher power. |
| 264 | * TheUnfought: Vox Machina never gets the chance to come to blows with the Whispered One, as Delilah's ritual only briefly manifests him before his image quickly dissipates upon appearing. |
| 265 | * WritingAroundTrademarks: Much like how Sarenrae is only ever referred to as her title of the Everlight, the Whispered One's true name as Vecna is never once uttered. |
| 266 | [[/folder]] |
| 267 | |
| 268 | !The Chroma Conclave |
| 269 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 270 | A fearsome pact of dragons who collectively have the power to raze all of Tal'Dorei. |
| 271 | ---- |
| 272 | * AchillesHeel: Two variants. |
| 273 | ** Vax discovers through a flowery poetic verse that dragons can be slain "where the twin rivers meet", realising during the fight with Brimscythe that it's referring to a particular spot on the base of their necks where the dragon's BreathWeapon charges up. Hitting this spot greatly incapacitates Brimscythe and causes his lighting to spew out haphazardly, but the elder Ancient dragons prove their scales are tougher than his, with Grog's attack on Raishan's own weak point breaking his axe instead. |
| 274 | ** Furthermore, the other members of the conclave prove to be skilled in magic, with Raishan and Umbrasyl casting dispel, invisibility [[spoiler:and polymorphing]] throughout season 2. This allows them to use healing magic as well, meaning that even ''if'' their tough hides can get damaged, all they need is a rest period to recover like the fight never happened. [[spoiler:However, this depends on them being capable of casting magic in the first place. Umbrasyl recovers from Vox Machina's trap after a few moments of healing, but Scanlan firing a SwordBeam off inside his skull fries his brain, leaving him with a lethal wound and in no fit state of cast magic to recover from it, meaning their brains are the most reliable targets to kill them]]. |
| 275 | * AdaptationalBadass: While the dragons on stream were extremely formidable, they take it up a level in the show, with each having an array of new abilities that make each of them a flying cataclysm. To give a reference, based on his size and power, Brimscythe is what would likely be classed as an Ancient Dragon in the tabletop game, while in the home game he was merely an adolescent dragon, but this is ''not'' a case of him getting an AgeLift, and when the actual Ancients show up, they easily dwarf him in power. |
| 276 | * BreathWeapon: Comes with the territory. Each member of the Conclave having their own depending of their type. |
| 277 | * AGodAmI: The end goal of the Conclave is to rule the world as god-kings, with Thordak in particular believing them to already be gods. |
| 278 | * GreaterScopeVillain: As Brimscythe's elders and partners, they were behind his attacks on Emon in the two-part pilot, which laid the groundwork for their eventual assault on the city in the beginning of Season 2. |
| 279 | * HumansAreInsects: The lynchpin of their collective philosophy, and they make sure ''everyone'' knows it. |
| 280 | * {{Kaiju}}: They are each exceptionally large and powerful even by dragon standards, and are fully capable of laying waste to a major city. |
| 281 | * KnightOfCerebus: The Chroma Conclave are the darkest villains in the series. Brimscythe firmly established that the series wasn’t going to be a fantasy comedy, and the rest of the Conclave’s attack on Emon is the most harrowing scene in the entire series, firmly establishing season 2 as DarkerAndEdgier. |
| 282 | * OurDragonsAreDifferent: All of them are ancients and powerful dragons, noted to be far more powerful than Brimscythe from season 1. Each is of a different colour and possess a different set of ElementalPowers. Their appearances are also [[YouDontLookLikeYou notably distinct]] from the original tabletop game. |
| 283 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: Between the four main members, they reduce the city and castle of Emon to variously burned, melted, noxious and flash-frozen rubble in a matter of hours. |
| 284 | * RedBaron: Each of the dragons have their own impressive titles; Brimscythe dubs himself the "Iron Storm", Umbrasyl uses "Hope Devourer" and Thordak styles himself the "Cinder King". |
| 285 | * SmugSuper: They are extremely egotistical and arrogant creatures. However, as evidenced by their effortless assault of Emon, they are each individually so overwhelmingly powerful that it's hard to say their egos are unjustified. |
| 286 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: As Season 2 progresses, it becomes obvious that the Conclave is anything but united, with Umbrasyl, thanks to [[spoiler:Anna Ripley]], becoming more interested in obtaining the Vestiges than his loyalty to the group, and Raishan [[EvenEvilHasStandards getting tired of Thordak's megalomaniacal nature]] to the point of [[spoiler:[[EnemyMine proposing an alliance with Vox Machina]]]]. JustifiedTrope, as chromatic dragons are so egotistical they ''never'' usually work together, with the fact that the Convclave existed at all being terrifying because of this. |
| 287 | * WalkingWasteland: Each of the four ancient dragons are the walking embodiments of their destructive elements: |
| 288 | ** The sheer heat of Thordak's body can melt anything in his presence, and that's before he supercharges his fire breath. |
| 289 | ** Raishan is clouded in thick toxic fumes that spread out for miles beyond her body. |
| 290 | ** Umbrasyl is covered in acidic mucus which rains upon anything and everything that's beneath his wingspan. |
| 291 | ** Frost and snow forms around Vorugal's presence before the dragon himself appears to brutally freeze anybody in his path. |
| 292 | * VillainTeamUp: What makes the conclave such a threat is that individually, they're ''all'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction massive dangers]] to entire towns or countries from their array of magical and natural advantages, such that each one of them required Vox Machina working as a team, and several strokes of luck, to survive against, much less kill any of them. Thordak being able to unite them all towards a common goal makes them practically unstoppable, and a dangerous threat to the whole world that entire armies have to be assembled against to stand a chance. |
| 293 | ** BigBad: Thordak, the Conclave's leader who keeps them in line towards a common goal despite chromatic Dragon's normal temperament, implied to be [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership through force]], and is presented as the overarching menace behind the Conclave's threat overall. |
| 294 | ** TheDragon: Pun aside, Umbrasyl. The most prominent front-line attacker of the four ancient dragons, tasked with handling their efforts to seize gold and riches beyond Emon's borders, and [[TheHeavy serves as the main threat to Vox Machina]] throughout season 2. He proves to be skilled in both magical and physical might, though not to Raishan and Vorugal's level, nearly killing the party multiple times, and is cunning enough to plan to use the Vestiges of Divergence against them. |
| 295 | ** EvilGenius: Raishan. The most skilled magic-user of the Conclave, and depicted with a preference for using her intelligence to achieve her goals rather than force. [[spoiler:Recognising Vox Machina as Brimscythe's killers, she stealthily follows them to Whitestone and infiltrates their safe haven, revealing herself and her plans to undermine Thordak to them only once they have proven themselves worthy of [[EnemyMine working alongside]] by slaying Umbrasyl, and after incapacitating anybody who might interfere. She furthermore points out [[IfIWantedYouDead she could have destroyed them and their allies at any point]], and they are clueless about Thordak's ultimate goals as incentive to work together, [[ManipulativeBitch leaving them with little choice to refuse]]]]. |
| 296 | ** TheBrute: Vorugal. The most heavyset of the Conclave, and showcases a preference for smashing victims with his might or his freezing ice blasts. |
| 297 | ** TheSneakyGuy: Brimscythe. Showcased as the weakest of the Conclave, and their scout and spy within Emon in preparation for their eventual assault, weakening its mighty army [[spoiler:under the disguise of General Krieg]], and manipulating several different parties without suspicion for an extended period of time. |
| 298 | * YouDontLookLikeYou: Likely done to [[WritingAroundTrademarks make them visually distinct from the depiction of dragons in D&D]], and to give each one more visual flare, they look considerably different from how they were depicted in the stream's official artwork. |
| 299 | [[/folder]] |
| 300 | |
| 301 | [[folder:Thordak]] |
| 302 | !!Thordak, the Cinder King |
| 303 | |
| 304 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_10_29_173720.png]] |
| 305 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/LanceReddick |
| 306 | --> Race: Red Dragon |
| 307 | A tyrannical red dragon and leader of the Chroma Conclave. |
| 308 | ---- |
| 309 | * AdaptationalVillainy: Even crueler than his original incarnation. In the stream, Vorugal attacked refugees at Greyskull Keep on his own, with Thordak having to stop him to get him back on track. Here, it's strongly implied that Thordak explicitly ordered Vorugal to kill anyone trying to flee Emon. Additionally, while in the original campaign Thordak was perfectly content on letting the citizens live after the initial attack, here, Thordak incinerates a large amount of civilians in Emon [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness as the Conclave no longer had use for their offerings]]. |
| 310 | * BadassBoast: Introduces himself with one: |
| 311 | -->"People of Emon! Thordak demands capitulation! Submit to the Cinder King!" |
| 312 | * BigBadEnsemble: Thordak acts as the main antagonist of the start of Season 2, leading the Chroma Conclave in laying siege to Tal'Dorei and plundering the continent's riches. However, while his attack kicks off Vox Machina's quest for the Vestiges, his lack of interest in hunting them down, gathering the Vestiges for himself, or doing much of anything other than taking over Emon and having the rest of the Conclave bring him treasures means that Umbrasyl and Ripley are instead the [[TheHeavy preeminent threats]] opposing the party, diverging from the Cinder King's goals with their own ambitions of gaining power from the Vestiges. Season 3 is set to have him take a more active role [[spoiler:with his plan to create an army of dragons.]] |
| 313 | * BreathWeapon: As a red dragon, Thordak breathes out flames and uses it to lay waste to Emon. He's also able to supercharge his fire breath, turning the flames blue in order to completely burn through Emon's royal palace along with the mountain it sits on. |
| 314 | * DragonsAreDemonic: While it could be said of all the members of the Conclave, due to their malignance, Thordak's design makes this trope especially clear in his case, with his [[HornsOfVillainy horns drawing a direct comparison to a devil]]. |
| 315 | * DragonHoard: After conquering Emon, he proceeds to amass all its gold, as well as that of the the neighboring lands. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he's not doing this out of simple greed. Rather, he's using the gold to brood a large clutch of eggs to raise an army of dragons.]] |
| 316 | * EnergyWeapon: Going ''way'' above the level of lore-accurate red dragons, Thordak can focus his fire breath into a supercharged, ''Film/ShinGodzilla''-style death ray capable of melting through an entire mountain width-wise. |
| 317 | * EvilIsBurningHot: As his title suggests, Thordak is a red dragon that immolates all before him. His body emits such incredible heat that he can passively melt steel and stone just by remaining in its vicinity. |
| 318 | * GemTissue: He has a massive glowing jewel embedded in his chest. It seems to be connected to his power as it lights up when he supercharges his fire breath. |
| 319 | * AGodAmI: When Umbrasyl brings him Mythcarver and insists that the Vestiges of Divergence will assure their ascension to Godhood, Thordak snaps that they've ''already'' assured their ascension. |
| 320 | * KneelBeforeZod: He spends much of the attack on Emon delivering booming speeches to this effect. |
| 321 | * LargeAndInCharge: As leader of the Chroma Conclave, Thordak is a huge dragon who towers over the rest. |
| 322 | * OrcusOnHisThrone: After the devastating attack on Emon, Thordak is content to remain in the background as the rest of the Conclave brings him riches. He's uninterested in dealing with Vox Machina himself, delegating the task to Umbrasyl once he finishes pillaging Westruun, and doesn't care for the power of the Vestiges that Ripley promises them, with the black dragon having to go out of his way to personally claim them for the Cinder King. |
| 323 | * PowerCrystal: Thordak has a massive glowing red crystal embedded in his chest. |
| 324 | * SealedEvilInACan: He was previously sealed within the Fire Plane by a group of heroes led by Allura, but later escaped, wreaking havoc on Pyrah in the process. |
| 325 | * WalkingWasteland: The sheer heat of his body melts and burns everything around him. |
| 326 | * WaveMotionGun: He can supercharge his fire breath to create such an effect, using it to completely destroy Emon's palace. |
| 327 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: He burns the citizens of Emon, when he no longer needs their offerings. |
| 328 | [[/folder]] |
| 329 | |
| 330 | [[folder:Raishan]] |
| 331 | !!Raishan, the Diseased Deceiver |
| 332 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_10_29_175000.png]] |
| 333 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/CreeSummer |
| 334 | --> Race: Green Dragon |
| 335 | The all-seeing green dragon. |
| 336 | ---- |
| 337 | * ActorAllusion: Cree Summer [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro once again plays an evil dragon]] bent on world domination. |
| 338 | * BreathWeapon: As a green dragon, Raishan breathes out poison gas. It is less directly destructive than her fellow dragons, but proves just as deadly when breathed in. |
| 339 | * DeadlyGas: She belches poisonous fumes that suffocate anybody who breathes it in, as fitting for a green dragon. |
| 340 | * EarlyBirdCameo: Her eye briefly appears in a magical communication stone in Brimscythe's lair in the second episode, before she makes her first proper appearance in the Chroma Conclave's attack a full season later. |
| 341 | * EnemyMine: [[spoiler:Forms an alliance with Vox Machina to kill Thordak due to him becoming increasingly insane and irrational.]] |
| 342 | * EvilSorcerer: Is an accomplished spellcaster in addition to her draconic strength and abilities. |
| 343 | * GreenAndMean: She's a green dragon, a poisoner and an evil strategist. |
| 344 | * HazyFeelTurn: Though she helps destroy Emon and clearly thinks little of everyone around her, [[spoiler:she offers aid to Vox Machina and has possibly been helping Whitestone for weeks in the fight against the Conclave, having grown weary of Thordak's increasing madness]]. |
| 345 | * IfIWantedYouDead: [[spoiler:When introducing herself to Vox Machina as an ally, she assures them they can trust her because if she wanted to kill them, they'd have been dead as soon as they stepped in the room.]] |
| 346 | * ImAHumanitarian: She eats people alive, and says she enjoys the taste of (their) fear. |
| 347 | * IsThatTheBestYouCanDo: Asks this verbatim as she easily disspells Scanlan's attempt to keep her mouth shut, displaying her own sorcerous prowess. [[spoiler:Later, when Vax tries to assassinate her with a surprise attack, she actually groans with annoyance at the display.]] |
| 348 | * TheKingslayer: Raishan is directly responsible for Sovereign Uriel's death, as he dies to her poison gas. |
| 349 | * PoisonousPerson: Her green gas is potent enough to kill an adult within second in an [[BloodFromEveryOrifice extremely violent fashion]]. |
| 350 | * SnakesAreSinister: Her head and neck resemble a cobra which fits with a being who is both cunningly evil and spews toxins. |
| 351 | * {{Weredragon}}: Like Brimscythe, she is able to transform her appearance, using this ability to [[spoiler:pose as a green-eyed child refugee first, then as Keeper Yennen]]. It's a lot more powerful than Brimscythe's as Vex was unable to sense anything amiss until [[spoiler:Raishan decides to reveal herself]]. |
| 352 | * WomenAreWiser: The sole female member of the Chroma Conclave and one of the most intelligent members. [[spoiler:Raishan poses as Keeper Yennen and goes to Vox Machina for aid when she tires of Thordak's madness, a considerably better move than Umbrasyl's decision to trust [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Ripley]]]]. |
| 353 | * WouldHurtAChild: A mother and baby are among the many victims of her poison breath. |
| 354 | [[/folder]] |
| 355 | |
| 356 | [[folder:Vorugal]] |
| 357 | !!Vorugal, the Frigid Doom |
| 358 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_10_29_175137.png]] |
| 359 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/LiamOBrien |
| 360 | --> Race: White Dragon |
| 361 | The brutish white dragon. |
| 362 | ---- |
| 363 | * AniamlMotifs: Vorugul has a strong similarity to rhinos. He has a large crystal on his nose like a rhino's horn and he is the most armored out of the Conclave. |
| 364 | * BreathWeapon: As a white dragon, Vorugal breathes out a beam that freezes anything it hits. |
| 365 | * TheBrute: Vorugal is a beast of few words and acts more animalistic than his kin. He's also the most heavily built of the Conclave. |
| 366 | * EvilIsDeathlyCold: As expected of a white dragon, his breath weapon is an icy blast that freezes and shreds its victims. |
| 367 | * FreezeRay: An especially brutal version of this where his ice blasts ''explode his victims from the inside out'' before they're instantaneously frozen in a giant block of ice. |
| 368 | * HuskyRusskie: Creator/LiamOBrien accentuates Vorugal's brutality with a [[BaritoneOfStrength rumbling, growling]] Russian accent. |
| 369 | * OutOfFocus: He's the least active of all four dragons. |
| 370 | * SmarterThanYouLook: Despite being the least executively functioning than the other dragons in the Chroma Conclave, Vorugal has moments of intelligence that prove he's ''more'' than a lumbering, mindless brute. [[spoiler: For instance, he single-handedly [[TheVillianKnowsWhereYouLive tracks down Vox Machina and the surviving refugees to Greyskull Keep to unleash a full-out attack]] and he easily saw through Scanlan's illusions of himself and Vex'ahlia.]] Something even Brimscythe couldn't do and ''he'' deceived ''not only'' the Tal'Dorei council, but even Sovereign Uriel. |
| 371 | * UnDyingLoyalty: Ultimately, Vorugal is the only dragon in the Chroma Conclave who steadfastly obeys and defers to Thordak since Raishan [[EveryOneHasStandards eventually gets fed up with Thordak's megalomania]] and [[[[spoiler: EnemyMine proposes an alliance with Vox Machina to slay Thordak]]]] and Umbrasyl [[TheStarScream starts defecting from Thordak]] in favor of collecting the Vestiges Of Divergence [[GodHoodSeeker to achieve godhood.]] |
| 372 | * WouldHurtAChild: Fires his breath weapon at two young children, though Pike manages to save them. |
| 373 | [[/folder]] |
| 374 | |
| 375 | [[folder:Umbrasyl]] |
| 376 | !!Umbrasyl, the Hope Devourer |
| 377 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_10_29_173748.png]] |
| 378 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer |
| 379 | --> Race: Black Dragon |
| 380 | The sadistic black dragon. |
| 381 | ---- |
| 382 | * AcidAttack: He spews a corrosive acid that melts his victims into fleshy goo, as expected from a black dragon. He also seems to secrete acid from his wings which [[VisualPun rain]] down on his victims as he simply flies overhead. |
| 383 | * AdaptationalIntelligence: In the webshow, he was TheBrute and explicitly more for brawn than brains. In comparison, the show version, while still a sadistic and brutal monster, is considerably more intelligent. He's the only one of the Conclave to recognize the Vestiges as being important and is even clever enough to use Mythcarver to track Vox Machina when they slip away from him during the battle in his lair. |
| 384 | * ArcVillain: While the other members of the Conclave are threats on the entire world as a whole, Vox Machina spend a good amount of time dealing with his immediate machinations from the moment he kills Kamaljiori and steals Mythcarver, making him the main villain for the majority of Season 2. |
| 385 | %%* AssShove: On the [[spoiler:receiving end of one thanks to Scanlan and Vax's plan to get inside him via the back door]]. |
| 386 | * AttackItsWeakpoint: After tanking unholy amounts of punishment, the only way Vox Machina manages to land a fatal wound is [[spoiler:Scanlan stabbing him in the eye and using the wound to attack his brain directly.]] |
| 387 | * BadBoss: To the Herd, whom he sees as diposable minions at best and insects at worst. Umbrasyl promises Kevdak rule over Westruun should the Herd keep bringing him tithes, but as the half-giants scoure the city ever cleaner and their tithes get progressively smaller, Umbrasyl's patience wears thin. He at one point grabs an unfortunate raider and [[FacialHorror melts his face with acid]] just to show he can, and judging by the others' reactions this wasn't the first time he'd murdered wantonly. |
| 388 | * BigBadDuumvirate: {{Downplayed|Trope}} with his partnership with Ripley for Season 2. Umbrasyl is not the true BigBad, but he is still TheHeavy for Thordak, as the Cinder King is an OrcusOnHisThrone unconcerned with fighting Vox Machina or seeking out the Vestiges of Divergence. Umbrasyl's alliance with the doctor sends him on a quest to personally claim the powerful artifacts for the Conclave, and he enters into the VillainTeamUp with seemingly genuine good faith in contrast to his subjugation of the Herd. |
| 389 | * BigBadEnsemble: He, Thordak, and Ripley are the main villains for Season 2. Umbrasyl is technically in service to the Cinder King, who is unambiguously presented as the greatest source of problems for Vox Machina despite his inactivity, but his own ambitions for power lead to Ripley turning him to hunting the Vestiges, making him a far more pressing, semi-independent threat. |
| 390 | %%* BigNo: He screams one when he [[spoiler:sees Scanlan has grabbed Mythcarver.]] |
| 391 | * BreathWeapon: While his wings also drip with flesh-melting acid, he's able to spew a far more concentrated dosage of it from his mouth to melt through solid stone buildings. |
| 392 | * CompositeCharacter: He borrows some traits from Ghurrix the Pit Friend from the stream's City of Brass arc: acting as the ClimaxBoss in Scanlan's character arc [[spoiler: and being killed by him with a newly-awakened Mythcarver]]. |
| 393 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Scanlan kills him by stabbing Mythcarver into his left eye and letting loose a huge magic burst ''inside his skull'', pretty much obliterating his brain and burning the other half of his face off.]] |
| 394 | * CurbStompCushion: As the [[TheHeavy most active member]] of the Chroma Conclave, Umbrasyl shows himself to be vastly powerful but not invincible. During the attack on Emon, Allura manages to knock him out of the sky before he brings a tower crashing down on her. At Rimecleft, he completely dominates Grog in their one-on-one duel, but Grog does manage to get a few cuts in. |
| 395 | * DarkIsEvil: He's a black dragon who enjoys raining down or breathing acid on his unfortunate victims. |
| 396 | * DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the webshow, Grog kills him by cleaving through his skull with Kevdak's Bloodaxe. [[spoiler:In the cartoon, it's instead Scanlan who kills the dragon, stabbing him in the eye with Mythcarver and letting off a massive magical burst inside his head.]] |
| 397 | * DesecratingTheDead: [[spoiler:After killing Kamaljiori, he tears off his head and impales it on a spike in his lair as a trophy.]] |
| 398 | * EvilSorcerer: While not as proficient as Raishan, Umbrasyl demonstrates a considerable knowledge of magic. He is shown to be able to dispel Scanlan's Hand, turn himself invisible, and heal his own wounds. |
| 399 | * EyeScream: [[spoiler:Scanlan kills him by stabbing Mythcarver into his eye and letting off a massive magical burst inside his skull. The burst obliterates his other eye and [[FacialHorror most of the right side of his face.]]]] |
| 400 | * FacialHorror: [[spoiler:When Scanlan let's loose a burst of magic inside of his head, it explodes out the right side of his face, leaving it little more than a scorched, bloody mess.]] |
| 401 | * FatalFlaw: His {{sadis|t}}m. In his battle with Vox Machina, he so utterly overpowers them that he could have killed them anytime he wanted to, but is content to draw it out for his amusement. [[spoiler:This gives Scanlan the time he needs to make the crucial decision to save the rest of the group.]] |
| 402 | * GodhoodSeeker: Part of the reason Umbrasyl is so insistent on claiming the Vestiges is because he thinks they can be used to ascend the Conclave into true gods, and he indicates that the entire reason he joined the other dragons is because he thinks Thordak's plans will bring them all to godhood. |
| 403 | * TheHeavy: Thordak is the leader of the Chroma Conclave, but Vox Machina is nowhere near powerful enough to take him on when the dragons begin their assault on Tal'Dorei. Umbrasyl, working with Ripley, is instead their primary opponent for Season 2 as he is tasked by the Cinder King to hunt the group down, leading to him stealing one of the Vestiges of Divergence needed to oppose the Conclave. The black dragon's attack subsequently splits the party, sending half into the Feywild and half to oppose the Herd of Storms who are pillaging the land on his behalf, and freeing Westruun from his conquest becomes the central conflict for the season's climax. |
| 404 | * HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Kills the sphinx Kamaljiori after a vicious brawl and proves to be a utterly terrifying foe who almost kills Vox Machina]]. |
| 405 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: {{Downplayed}}. His obsession with collecting the Vestiges of Divergence [[spoiler:brings him into direct conflict with Vox Machina without any of his fellow dragons around as backup, which eventually gets him slain by Scanlan. He does manage to nearly wipe out the party by himself, however]]. |
| 406 | * IgnoredExpert: Umbrasyl, acting on Ripley's advice, attempts to convince Thordak to prioritize locating the Vestiges so that the Conclave could "ascend to true godhood", but Thordak ignores this in favour of increasing his hoard's size. |
| 407 | * {{Invisibility}}: Umbrasyl uses magic to turn invisible after Vox Machina and the Herd of Storms get the drop on him, and he uses it to terrifying effect in his own lair. |
| 408 | * {{Jerkass}}: He is easily the most abrasive and unpleasant member of the Chroma Conclave, matching his acidic theming. Shown even when talking with his so-called allies in the Herd of Storms, he's very impatient with how they are handling their takeover of Westruun and melts one out of sheer annoyance. |
| 409 | * LightningBruiser: Umbrasyl proves to be terrifyingly fast for such a a large creature. Even on the ground he's fast enough to hit a Deathwalker's Ward-wearing Vax, and in the air he can fly faster than either Vex's broom or Keyleth's giant eagle form. |
| 410 | * NearVillainVictory: To emphasize the vast difference in power level between [[StrongerWithAge the young adult Brimscythe and the ancient Umbrasyl]], Vox Machina goes into their final battle with Umbrasyl far more powerful that they were when they took down Brimscythe with a fairly tough fight. Even with that increase in power, [[CurbStompBattle Umbrasyl nearly annihilates the entire party without too much difficulty]] and is only defeated due to a lot of luck and [[spoiler:a last ditch rescue by Scanlan]]. |
| 411 | * OhCrap: [[spoiler:There's a close up of his eye going wide with the iris narrowing as he sees Scanlan about to [[EyeScream embed said eye with Mythcarver.]]]] |
| 412 | * {{Phlegmings}}: He's constantly drooling acid even when he's not spewing it on his victims. |
| 413 | * SpikesOfVillainy: He's covered in spines that drip with acidic mucus. |
| 414 | * TheStarscream: Begins showing signs of resentment to Thordak's rule once he decides to seek out the Vestiges, with Ripley encouraging his ambitions for power. He dies before he's able to truly turn against his master. |
| 415 | * UnwittingPawn: He becomes a victim of Ripley’s manipulations, convincing him to seek out the Vestiges of Divergence, which has him show resentment towards Thordak and his rule. |
| 416 | * VillainTeamUp: Ripley approaches him with a warning about Vox Machina's plans, setting him on the party's tracks in their search for the Mythcarver. The two subsequently make a long-term alliance, working together to find the remaining Vestiges. |
| 417 | [[/folder]] |
| 418 | |
| 419 | [[folder:Brimscythe]] |
| 420 | !!Brimscythe, the Iron Storm |
| 421 | [[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2023_10_29_175902.png]] |
| 422 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DavidTennant |
| 423 | -->Race: Blue Dragon |
| 424 | |
| 425 | The blue dragon who is terrorizing Emon. And he didn't come alone. |
| 426 | ---- |
| 427 | * AdaptationalBadass: In the original home game, Brimscythe was roughly the dragon equivalent of a teenager, matching Vox Machina's level at the time. In the animated series, Brimscythe is much larger than a standard "young" or "adult" dragon would be and proves to be a much bigger threat than the original, though the appearance of the rest of the Conclave in Season 2 clarifies that he's still in no way considered an "ancient" dragon like them. |
| 428 | * TheBabyOfTheBunch: Is only half the size of any one of the other Chroma Conclave. |
| 429 | * BadassBoast: Uses his own title as a boast while fighting Vox Machina, proclaiming himself to be the Iron Storm. |
| 430 | * BreathWeapon: As a blue dragon, Brimscythe breathes lightning out of his mouth, leaving devastation in his wake. |
| 431 | * DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: A SlashedThroat courtesy of Vax killed him in ''Critical Role'', before the show began. In this show, that slash certainly deals quite a bit of damage, but it takes Vex shooting him with a blessed arrow and Grog splitting Brimscythe's head open with his axe to finish the job. |
| 432 | %%* HumanDisguise: [[spoiler:As General Krieg. It was how he knew exactly to cause the most damage to the troops who were sent to kill him]]. |
| 433 | * KnightOfCerebus: Despite being the StarterVillain, he firmly establishes this isn’t just going to be a fun and comedic fantasy. |
| 434 | * NormalFishInATinyPond: He was able to singlehandedly terrorize the armies of Emon and required a good deal of trickery to defeat but when the rest of the Chroma Conclave show up, they're all at least twice as big as Brimscythe was and the tricks that worked on him are completely useless against them. |
| 435 | * ShockAndAwe: He has the ability to breathe lightning. On top of that, he can NoSell getting hit with a thunderbolt from Keyleth. If anything, [[FeedItWithFire it made him even more powerful]]. |
| 436 | * StarterVillain: Brimscythe is the first major villain to be fought by Vox Machina in the animated series. |
| 437 | * ThisCannotBe: "What? Impossible!" is the only thing that Brimscythe can muster up once Vox Machina manage to trick him with Scanlan's illusion magic. |
| 438 | * ThoseWereOnlyTheirScouts: He's a deadly threat and takes a massive amount of effort to finally put down. Season 2 shows that Brimscythe was actually the ''weakest'' member of the Conclave and his four, much larger and stronger partners were still on their way. Brimscythe was just preparing the way for them. |
| 439 | * ViolentGlaswegian: Creator/DavidTennant normally has a fairly subtle accent, but he slams the dial all the way past eleven here, accentuating Brimscythe's brutality with roaring Scottish pronouncements. |
| 440 | * WalkingSpoiler: The identity of Brimscythe or his ally on the Council is a key question for the first two episodes. He's actually [[spoiler:General Krieg or at least was actually posing as Krieg]]. |
| 441 | * {{Weredragon}}: He can shapeshift his form in whatever he wants, especially humans. |
| 442 | * YourHeadAsplode: As he's charging his lightning breath, Grog does a huge overhand swing with his axe, causing all the lightning in Brimscythe's mouth to be redirected back into his skull. By the time the dust clears, Brimscythe's head has been split straight down the middle. |
| 443 | [[/folder]] |
| 444 | |
| 445 | !The Herd of Storms |
| 446 | |
| 447 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 448 | A ruthless band of raiders that are working under Umbrasyl's wing. |
| 449 | ---- |
| 450 | * AdaptedOut: Kevdak's right hand man, Greenbeard, is absent in the cartoon. As is Zanror's girlfriend Worra. |
| 451 | * DueToTheDead: The remaining Herd members [[spoiler: create a memorial to those killed by Umbrasyl outside of Westruun.]] |
| 452 | * EqualOpportunityEvil: There appears to be a couple of non-goliath members in a normally purely goliath herd. As the herd value strength above all, even blood, it appears that they welcome any race or gender should the individual be strong enough to raid. |
| 453 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: While normally sadistic and merciless raiders, the rest of the Herd can't bring themselves to watch Kevdak brutally beat Grog to an inch of his life. Similarly, many look away at Kevdak beating down his own son, Zanror. |
| 454 | * HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Once Kevdak is slain and Grog appoints Zanror as the new Thunderlord, they happily switch to Vox Machina's side to slay Umbrasyl and celebrate Grog's victory despite cheering it on beforehand.]] |
| 455 | * TheHorde: They're the classic fantasy marauders that value strength above all and pillage anything in their path. Even their name evokes this trope. |
| 456 | * KarmaHoudini: ZigZagged. [[spoiler:Once Grog defeats Kevdak and Zanror takes over the Herd, everybody seems to forget that the ''entire Herd'' was involved in [[RapePillageAndBurn massacring hundreds of people and destroying their settlements]], though it's unclear if they were like this before Kevdak took over and were [[ForcedIntoEvil siding with Kevdak to keep out of his murderous wrath.]] However, most of the Herd get dissolved by Umbrasyl after Percy's trap fails, leaving only Zanror and a handful of survivors]]. |
| 457 | * MightMakesRight: Rigidly follow this as their guiding philosophy. The biggest, toughest warrior is in charge, and everyone else has to do what they say -- that is, unless someone even bigger and tougher [[KlingonPromotion kills them in single combat]] and becomes the new leader. |
| 458 | * PeltsOfTheBarbarian: Many of them wear fur coats to go with their raider lifestyle |
| 459 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: Their alliance with Umbrasyl is very strained, with the dragon ready to wipe them out the moment they stop becoming useful and many members of the Herd, including Kevdak's own son, clearly unhappy with being forced to serve someone else and judging by the Herd's joy of Kevdak's death, it's most likely they weren't thrilled to be with working for him either. |
| 460 | [[/folder]] |
| 461 | |
| 462 | [[folder:Kevdak]] |
| 463 | !! Kevdak |
| 464 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kevdak.png]] |
| 465 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/RalphIneson |
| 466 | -->Race: Goliath |
| 467 | The Thunderlord of the Herd and Grog's uncle. |
| 468 | ---- |
| 469 | * AbusiveParents: Ready and willing to beat his son and nephew nearly to death for any slight. |
| 470 | * AdaptationalBadass: Downplayed, but still there. During the livestream, [[spoiler:when Kevdak's arm was severed, he attempted to retreat and recover. In the animated series, he tears it the rest of the way off and tries to beat Grog to death with it.]] |
| 471 | * AmbitionIsEvil: While the rest of the Herd isn't good, per se, Kevdak is set apart from them by a desire to rule Westruun rather than remain nomadic, and is especially evil. |
| 472 | * AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Grog nearly slices his left arm off just above the elbow. Kevdak rips it the rest of the way off and tries to beat Grog to death with it.]] |
| 473 | * BadBoss: Is unafraid to beat any insubordinate members of the Herd to near death with the Titanstone Knuckles, including his own son. Because of this, ''no one'' in The Herd mourns Kevdak's death, ''not even his own son'' whom he [[AbusiveParents physically and verbally abused almost repeatedly.]] Hell, they even ''celebrate his death'' with Vox Machina over drinks and live music. |
| 474 | %%* BerserkButton: ''Never'' suggest that he's weak. |
| 475 | * BigBadWannabe: Despite his ambitions of ruling Westruun in Umbrasyl's name, Kevdak's efforts to appease the dragon are all for naught, as the Hope Devourer intended to kill him and steal the gauntlets the moment they had collected enough gold for the Conclave's plans. |
| 476 | * ClimaxBoss: Kevdak is the climactic opponent for Grog's character arc in season 2. After struggling with Craven Edge's corruption and Earthbreaker Groon's question of "where does [his] strength come from" throughout the entire season, Grog's duel with his uncle is what gets him to realize his strength comes from his friends, throwing off Craven Edge's curse to engage in an epic battle that escalates into the entirety of Vox Machina taking on the Herd of Storms, which culminates in Grog killing the tyrannical Thunderlord in a final rejection of the marauder ways he almost slipped back into under the black sword's sway. |
| 477 | * DeathByLookingUp: [[spoiler:Only has a single moment to look up just as Grog comes down from high in the air to bisect him vertically with an ax swing.]] |
| 478 | * TheDragon: Umbrasyl's primary tool through which he plunders Westruun. Unlike the black dragon's alliance with Ripley, which he seems content to treat as a partnership, it's obvious who is in charge in his dealings with the Herd. |
| 479 | * TheDreaded: On top of being the ruthless leader of a gang of murderous marauders, he invokes a special amount of fear from Grog after nearly killing him for his refusal to murder Wilhand. Wilhand himself is naturally just as scared when Grog brings him up. |
| 480 | * EarlyBirdCameo: He's shown in a few short flashes two episodes before he properly appears in "A Test of Pride": in Grog's dream and Scanlan's vision of the Vestiges. |
| 481 | * EvilCounterpart: The embodiment of everything Grog fears and regrets from his past life with the Herd, a merciless warlord who values strength above everything and everyone else. While he's being corrupted by Craven Edge, Grog at one point sees a vision of Kevdak congratulating him for his ruthlessness, further signifying just how close he is to going off the deep end. |
| 482 | * EvilIsPetty: Insults everything from Grog's appearance to his dead dad just to get a rise out of him. Not to mention that his solution to a squabble between two teenage boys is to try and murder one of them... |
| 483 | * EvilOldFolks: Kevdak was fairly old even in Grog's flashbacks, which logically had to have been a good twenty years ago, and he's positively elderly in modern day. He's still a ruthless monster of a man and he's still built like a grain silo. |
| 484 | * EvilSoundsDeep: In cast full of scary baritones, he certainly stands out. |
| 485 | * EvilUncle: To Grog, who he raised to be a violent, ruthless barbarian in his marauder days. |
| 486 | * {{Foil}}: To Wilhand. They're both the patriarch and have served as some kind of ParentalSubstitute to Grog, but Kevdak was an abusive monster who nearly killed Grog while Wilhand saved him and helped shape him into the man he is. |
| 487 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: Like Pike he has a scar on his eye. However unlike Pike's clean-cut line down her eye that she can still see out of, Kevdak's scar covers a quarter of his face and partially blinds him. [[spoiler: Though considering his solution to his arm being nearly severed is to rip it off and use it as a club, [[FridgeBrilliance it's clear that the Herd doesn't pride themselves on medical care.]]]] |
| 488 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:As in the campaign, Grog bisects him vertically with an ax swing from high in the air.]] |
| 489 | * HateSink: Unlike most of the villains in the series (such as [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the Briarwoods who mutually cared about each other]], and even [[DragonsAreDemonic Thordak]] who is a badass that had greater goals), Kevdak has ''zero'' admirable, sympathetic or redeeming qualities that makes him at least a likeable villain. He is a [[ArsonMurderAndJayWalking brutal, war-mongering, tyrannical, ruthless, savage, cruel, selfish, horrible and petty]] monster of a man that raids countless villages and murdered numerous innocent people for no reason than to fuel his wallet and bloodlust. Members of the Herd also despised him for his willingness to work with Umbrasyl. Even worse, Kevdak is extremely abusive [[spoiler:and even murderous]] towards his own family when they disobeyed him and turned against him, subverting his initial care to Zanror in the process. Working with the Chroma Conclave isn't helping either, since he made a deal for selfish reasons and gleefully returned to his old life of a despoiler once more. Needless to say, his death at the hands of his nephew, also one of his most miserable victims, is more than satisfying to watch. |
| 490 | * ImplacableMan: He can be hurt. He can be wounded. But in combat, he ''cannot be stopped''. Any injuries inflicted on him, no matter how severe, can be shrugged off, endured and the favour returned tenfold upon his attacker. Grog slicing out his eye seemed more to startle and anger him than effect his combat prowess. [[spoiler:Grog almost cutting his arm off just leads to him tearing the remainder off and using it as a bludgeon to smack him away with a scowl on his face, and he's still presented as a formidable force that is barely restrained from turning the tide by Vex's vine arrows. Ultimately it took Grog cleaving him vertically in half with a blow powerful enough to crater the ground to kill him, and going by Kevdak's expression, if he'd still had an arm on the side his head was on, he'd have tried to swing at Grog even on death's door]]. |
| 491 | * ItsPersonal: His alliance with Umbrasyl puts him in Vox Machina's way, but his relationship to Grog is the central part of his antagonism. |
| 492 | * LikeFatherUnlikeSon: He is a cold, pragmatic monster with ambitions of ruling. His son, on the other hand, seems to be a likable, gregarious guy with no such ambitions. |
| 493 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: He absolutely ''loves'' dishing these out at every chance he can get. Grog gets one when he is exiled from the Herd, Zanror suffers a slightly less severe version after questioning his leadership, and Grog gets ''two'' more during their battle, before and after regaining his strength. |
| 494 | * PapaWolf: Protective of Zanror to the point of beating his own nephew to death when they fought as teens. As an adult, it's a [[AbusiveParents different story.]] |
| 495 | * PowerFist: Wields the Titanstone Knuckles and asserts his dominance by beating anybody in his way with his fists. |
| 496 | * PragmaticVillainy: ZigZagged. It gets him accused of cowardice by both the Herd and Grog, but ultimately, Kevdak is proven to be correct that the Herd allying with Umbrasyl is better for them than going against him. [[spoiler:Even when Grog takes his Titanstone Knuckles and attacks the black dragon with the Herd in a coordinated trap, along with the additional vestiges wielded by the rest of Vox Machina, he proves too powerful to contain, kills large numbers of the Herd, and very nearly killed Vox Machina in a protracted fight, only failing at the last second by Scanlan's near HeroicSacrifice and a lucky shot. Kevdak attacking him with his single vestige would have decimated the Herd in the end]]. However, Kevdak's [[BadBoss tyrannical rule over the Herd Of Storms]] [[AbusiveParents and even his own son]] would eventually come back to bite him since he savagely beat or murdered any Herd members who showed ''even the slightest bit'' of resistance and deviance of Kevdak's barbaric rule that ''none'' of the remaining Herd members mourn Kevdak or avenge him and his ways [[spoiler: after his death at Grog's hands]] and they ''immediately welcome and celebrate'' Zanror as the new leader. |
| 497 | * UnskilledButStrong: It becomes apparent that for all his sheer strength, Kevdak isn't all that skilled. Once Grog regains his strength, Kevdak struggles to land an actual hit on him due to Grog having became much more skilled. It takes using the Titanstone Knuckles to power up enough sheer brute strength is all he needs, and even then Kevdak has trouble hitting him. |
| 498 | * VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Kevdak had little trouble dealing with Grog years ago. In their rematch, once Grog gets his strength back, its shown Kevdak is completely outmatched in terms of skill and fails to land a hit. If he hadn't had the Titanstone Knuckles, then he likely would've lost outright, and even with them he has trouble hitting him. And this was after Grog had already taken a beating and been impaled, implying Kevdak likely would've done ''worse'' had Grog been at full strength from the beginning. |
| 499 | * VillainousValor: Say what you will about Kevdak - and there's a ''lot'' to say, given he's a cruel, monstrous bandit king - but there isn't a speck of cowardice in his body when it comes to a fight, and he battles Grog and Vox Machina until the bitter, bloody, gruesome end. This is especially pronounced here as opposed to his livestream incarnation; there, Kevdak tried to retreat after losing his arm, whereas he ''rips it off and uses it as a war club'' instead here. |
| 500 | * WouldHurtAChild: Happily beats down his teenage nephew and son. |
| 501 | * WritingAroundTrademarks: A minor case here. In the original game, part of what made Kevdak so disgustingly durable was being a Barbarian like Grog; specifically, a Totem Warrior (Bear) Barbarian, a subclass not covered in the 5e OGL. It is adapted out here in favor of making Kevdak just that damn tough, though it is alluded to with his bear skin pelt. |
| 502 | [[/folder]] |
| 503 | |
| 504 | [[folder:Zanror]] |
| 505 | -->See his folder on [[Characters/TheLegendOfVoxMachinaAlliesAndOtherCharacters Allies and Other Characters]]. |
| 506 | [[/folder]] |
| 507 | |
| 508 | !Others |
| 509 | [[folder:Orthax]] |
| 510 | !!Orthax |
| 511 | [[quoteright:336:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orthax_lovm.png]] |
| 512 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer |
| 513 | -->Race: Demon |
| 514 | |
| 515 | A malevolent spirit that is guiding Percy's path of vengeance. |
| 516 | ---- |
| 517 | * AdaptationalWimp: Downplayed. While just as dangerous as before, in the original web series, Orthax was capable of leaving the host's body if it wanted to engage in combat. Here, he requires the host's body to fight. |
| 518 | * BerserkButton: Being denied a soul he was targetting. When Grog and Keyleth kill [[spoiler:Sylas]] before he and Percy could, he flies into a rage. |
| 519 | -->'''Orthax''': THAT KILL WAS '''MINE!!''' |
| 520 | * BlankWhiteEyes: They're reflected in Percy's mask, and the ScaryShinyGlasses trope is also used to suggest his influence because of the resemblance to him. |
| 521 | * BottomlessMagazines: While Percy normally needs to reload between his revolver's six shots, he never once stops firing after Orthax starts to take his hold on him. Vex [[LampshadeHanging comments on]] this oddity, implying that Orthax is magically augmenting the pepperbox for infinite capacity. |
| 522 | * TheCorruption: Twists Percy into a nightmarish avatar of vengeance whenever he executes a target on The List. |
| 523 | * CycleOfRevenge: It's a demon of vengeance, and constantly adds names to Percy's kill list. At one point, it adds Cassandra's name to the list for her apparent betrayal, though she was being controlled by the Briarwoods at the time. Later, it adds the names of Percy's companions in Vox Machina. |
| 524 | * DarkIsEvil: It's a black, smoke-like demon that corrupts Percy into vengeful rage. |
| 525 | * DemonicPossession: Feasting on Percy's desire for vengeance against those who murdered the De Rolo family, Orthax keeps Percy focused by feeding this desire into RevengeBeforeReason. |
| 526 | * DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the original web series, Orthax was killed in combat by a combination of Grog and Trinket. In the cartoon, Orthax retreats to Percy's gun after Percy shoots himself to harm Orthax, and is dissolved with Percy's weapon after Scanlan throws it in acid. |
| 527 | * EvilVsEvil: Orthax wants to help Percy kill the Briarwoods and their associates, but only because doing so strengthens its hold on Percy and gives it souls to feed on. |
| 528 | * FinalBoss: With the Briarwoods defeated in the penultimate episode, the first season's finale centers around Percy overcoming Orthax's influence as the demon possesses him to fight the rest of Vox Machina. |
| 529 | * TheHeavy: Acts as this in the first season through its possession of Percy. The Briarwoods are the {{Big Bad}}s with farther reaching plans, but the demon drives the plot by encouraging and enabling Percy's obsessive quest for revenge. Its growing influence causes the de Rolo heir to begin using excessively violent methods that put him at odds with his teammates, and it ultimately eclipses the usurper nobles as the climactic (if lower-stakes) FinalBoss of the season when Vox Machina challenges it to save Percy's soul. |
| 530 | * MovingTheGoalposts: Played for drama. No matter how many people Percy kills, The List will always gain new names for him to hunt down thanks to Orthax wanting to consume more souls. It even adds the names of Vox Machina for a perceived slight, and gradually takes over more of Percy's mind as he kills more people on the List. |
| 531 | * NoNameGiven: It is never named out loud on the show, referred to only as "The Smoke" or "The Demon" by other characters, but is still listed as "Orthax" in the credits and subtitles. |
| 532 | * PeoplePuppets: It has at least some control over Percy's body. Percy has to fight to prevent Orthax from shooting Vex with The List, tries and fails to kill himself with The List when he just barely stops, and has to shoot through his own hand just to shock himself out of the DemonicPossession. |
| 533 | * SoulEating: Devours the souls of whoever Percy kills with The List. |
| 534 | * SuperSmoke: Manifests itself as black smoke whenever Percy finds a target of his revenge. At first Percy dismisses it as smoke from the black powder when Keyleth brings it up, but eventually the smoke is so visible and plainly wrong that none of the team can deny its presence. |
| 535 | * WritingAroundTrademarks: He's clearly based on an invidiak/shadow demon from both ''D&D'' and ''Pathfinder'' (and ''was'' one in the tabletop games), actually leaning a bit more toward the ''PF'' interpretation of such a creature (which makes sense, since ''Vox Machina'' began as a ''PF'' campaign and this is when Taliesin likely would've pitched the initial idea to Matt). He's never referred to as anything other than a "demon" generically in the show, however, and his show design has some notable divergence from standard invidiak design. Specifically, his show design places a far greater emphasis on being smoke-like and suggestive of inner fire, to follow on thematically with him helping inspire Percy to make black powder wepaons that he forges and metal-works himself, all elements that call back to glowing embers, fire, and smoke. |
| 536 | * YourSoulIsMine: It consumes the souls of those Percy slays with The List. |
| 537 | [[/folder]] |
| 538 | |
| 539 | [[folder:Hotis]] |
| 540 | !!Hotis |
| 541 | [[quoteright:210:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hotis_2.jpg]] |
| 542 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewMercer |
| 543 | -->Race: Rakshasa |
| 544 | |
| 545 | Vax's "strangest kill". |
| 546 | ---- |
| 547 | * TheCameo: Makes a minor appearance in episode five in the flashback montage of the party's strangest kills. |
| 548 | * DemotedToExtra: A brutal encounter in the stream that took half the party and members of the Slayer's Take to kill, here he's just a minor throwaway gag. |
| 549 | * DestinationDefenestration: Falls out of a window after getting a dagger through the head. |
| 550 | * WeWillMeetAgain: Claims he will return for vengeance once Vax defeats him. Whether he will make good on this promise like in the original campaign remains to be seen. |
| 551 | [[/folder]] |
| 552 | |
| 553 | [[folder:Saundor]] |
| 554 | !!Saundor |
| 555 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saundor_8.jpg]] |
| 556 | ->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SendhilRamamurthy |
| 557 | -->Race: Archfey |
| 558 | |
| 559 | The prince of the Shademurk Bog. |
| 560 | ---- |
| 561 | * AdaptationalVillainy: Saundor's tragic past and all sympathetic qualities he had from the webshow are completely removed here. Additionally, rather than trying to genuinely establish a bond with Vex like he did in the webshow, in the cartoon he attempts to MindRape Vex to persuade her, while leaving the rest of the party to die to his traps. |
| 562 | * AlienBlood: The same black mud that fills the Shademurk Bog runs through Saundor's veins and seeps out of him whenever he suffers a blow. |
| 563 | * AttackOnTheHeart: As a heart-broken recluse, there was no better way for Vex to kill them to first reject his predatory advances and then stab him straight in his broken heart. |
| 564 | * BlackEyesOfEvil: Saundor's eyes lack irises, but are simply pools of black tar. As he corrupts Vex, her eyes also begin to turn black. |
| 565 | * BottomlessMagazines: Saundor has no need for a quiver, since he can create wooden arrows from his body on a whim. |
| 566 | * DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the stream, Grog killed him with a javelin of lightning. Here, Vex is the one to kill him, stabbing him in the heart with an arrowhead Percy made for her. |
| 567 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Saundor initially offers Vex'ahlia unconditional love and everything her heart desires, but the ''second'' she turns him down, he explodes into an enraged tirade about how she's "just like all the rest" and tries to kill her while calling her |
| 568 | * FisherKing: The dark, creepy bog reflects the prince's desperate, depraved nature. |
| 569 | * GreenThumb: Most of Saundor's powers unrelated to Fenthras seem to involve manipulating the massive tree he resides in. He can summon {{Treants}} to fight for him, send vines to incapacitate his opponents, or even create massive walls of wood to protect him from attacks. |
| 570 | * IfICantHaveYou: It seems Saundor has made a habit of this, since not only does he begin a rampage against Vex at the slightest rejection, but he makes note that she is just like "the rest." The skulls sunken into the bog were probably potential lovers who spurned Saundor and met his wrath. |
| 571 | * LoveHungry: He latches onto Vex immediately, offering her everything she wants and insisting they would be perfect together and that he can fix her. When she breaks the spell, he snaps and tries to kill her while screaming at her for rejecting him. Judging from his comments and the skulls in his bog, she's probably not the first person he's attached himself to and then killed. Keyleth comments that even [[FisherKing the plants in his domain]] radiate longing. |
| 572 | * MonsterOfTheWeek: He serves as the main antagonist of "Echo Tree" as the wielder of the Fenthras longbow, but is killed off before he can leave any greater impact on the story. |
| 573 | * NotGoodWithRejection: When Vex refuses to join him, he immediately starts trying to kill her and her friends, focusing the entirety of his attention on her in the ensuing battle. |
| 574 | * PlantPerson: The cancerous tree has seemed to grown around and into Saundor, turning his elven skin to bark and causing branches and roots to pierce through his back. |
| 575 | * VillainHasAPoint: While Saundor was mostly being a manipulative creep, he's right when he tells Vex that her father will never approve of her, and that running herself ragged to earn his love is a losing game. |
| 576 | * VillainousCrush: Saundor is taken with Vex'ahlia and hopes to exploit her sorrows to make her his new mate. |
| 577 | * WeCanRuleTogether: He actually freely offers his bow, Fenthras, and his aid in fighting the dragons if Vex'ahlia is willing to forsake her friends and join him. |
| 578 | * WickedHeartSymbol: Saundor's heart is as black as soot and pumps similarly wretched tar throughout his wooden body. Fittingly, he is depicted as a sorrowful figure who preys on the misery and broken-heartedness of others. |
| 579 | [[/folder]] |
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