History Characters / CriticalRoleVillains

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most Critters assumed it was "Silas" Briarwood, until Matt released his character playlist where it is spelled "Sylas".

* ArcherArchetype: Matt portrays him as a man who is typically stoic and focused, firing precisely from a distance. Fire he does. He uses Fenthras in his battle against the party, and is pretty damn good at using it - he's able to fire three shots each round, similar to Vex'ahlia herself, but also has the capability to fire up to three ''more'' arrows outside of his own turn, which he uses to devastating effect during the battle.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Of the Whitestone arc, since the Briarwoods worship him and learned about necromancy from his works. His shadow falls over the rest of the series afterwards, exemplified with the black orb left beneath Whitestone from a ritual Delilah Briarwood learned from him.

* EvilVersusOblivion: In Campaign 3 episode 78 Delilah clarifies that she wants to stop [[spoiler:Predathos and rescue the gods]] just as much as anyone else because [[spoiler:she is a servant of Vecna and if he is consumed she, and by extension Laudna, will vanish too.]]

* EvilVersusOblivion: In episode 78 Delilah clarifies that she wants to stop [[spoiler:Predathos and rescue the gods]] just as much as anyone else because [[spoiler:she is a servant of Vecna and if he is consumed she, and by extension Laudna, will vanish too.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: It is unknown whether Delilah was a necromancer ''before'' Sylas died, but she definitely dived further into the dark arts in a hopes of bringing him back to life. She succeeded, but to do so, she turned him into a vicious vampire who she loved no less. Per the campaign wrap-up, [[spoiler:Delilah and Sylas were relatively unimportant nobles in Wildemount living fairly normal lives, with Delilah working at a magical academy, before Sylas fell ill and died. This drove Delilah to unwittingly strike a deal and begin working with Vecna. Following his whispers is what dragged them into necromancy.]] Given the campaign 2 reveal that [[spoiler: the academy Delilah taught at was none other than the Soltryce Academy, a well-known stomping ground of the Cerberus Assembly and a place where no small amount of atrocities have been committed, it's even less clear where and when her dark magical proclivities started.]]

* BossBattle: K'Varn is the first monster who manages to battle Vox Machina alone and holds his own against the party for half of a five-hour stream. It is actually the fourth longest fight against a single, unaided opponent, only surpassed by battles with ancient dragons, a kraken, and the FinalBoss of the stream.

* ClippedWingAngel: [[spoiler:He revives as an undead after being killed by the party, but this form has far less health than his first, and he doesn't accomplish much before dying again.]]
* ComboPlatterPowers: Beholders have powers ranging from mind control to petrification thanks to their twelve magical eye-stalks, and the horn of Orcus grants him some control over the undead on top of that.

* TheDreaded: Vox Machina is very apprehensive of him, and spend almost as much time planning on fighting him as they do fighting him. Tiberius in particular is ''terrified'' of him, refusing to fight him and going off on his own during the fight to rally the illithid instead.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: After taking up residence in Emon, Thordak is content to delegate authority to various minions and generals whilst he remains away from open conflict. [[spoiler:Revelations in Episode 77 imply that he has a specific reason for staying in Emon that is pursuant to his ultimate goal. Episodes 79 confirms that he was protecting some altered dragon eggs. He also might have been working with (or ''for'') someone/something, but that might as well has been just his insanity]].

* SanitySlippage: It's mentioned frequently by [[spoiler: Raishan]] to the party that the power of the [[spoiler: heart crystal in his chest]] is slowly driving him more and more insane as the days go on. His already vain and narcissistic personality is ratcheted up to full blown egomania as he cements his rule over Emon. [[spoiler:By the time he faces off against Vox Machina in combat, he's practically foaming at the mouth, barely able to keep focus on the party, and laughing like a maniac all the while.]]

* StarterVillain: The first dragon of the Chroma Conclave to be confronted individually by Vox Machina, and Matt informs the the cast afterward that the others are unlikely to be as careless as him.

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: For their first two appearences the Briarwoods present a solid enough challenge for Vox Machina to be careful when facing them, [[spoiler: by the time Delilah returns, despite her having new spells and an upgrade in the form of the Eye of Vecna, she herself is overall weaker than Vox machina and only becomes a threat as support for Vecna. During their final confrontation in Campaign 1, having lost the Eye of Vecna, Delilah and a ressurected Sylas find themselves way outmatched by Vox machina, who manage to take them without much effort, kill Delilah and force Sylas to run away]]

[[center: [-Marquet (Campaign 3): [[Characters/CriticalRoleMarquetCampaign Bell's Hells]] | [[Characters/CriticalRoleMarquetGuestPartyMembers Guest Party Members]] | [[Characters/CriticalRoleMarquetOtherCharacters Allies and Other Characters]] | [[Characters/CriticalRoleMarquetVillains Villains]] -]]][[center: [-The Setting Of Exandria: [[Characters/CriticalRoleGods Gods]] | [[Characters/CriticalRoleHistoricalFigures Historical Figures]] | ''[[Characters/CriticalRoleCallOfTheNetherdeep Call of the Netherdeep]]''-]]]

* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: They try to have on their carriage driver, Desmond, assassinated because he [[HeKnowsTooMuch knows too much]] about their activities at Whitestone. Vox Machina foils the attempt. Barely.

** Delilah: [[spoiler:Her clone takes time to get ready, making her death in episode 113 her final one. However, Campaign 3 showed that this was ultimately a subversion, as her spirit survived. Part of the campaign revolves around making sure that she doesn't come back through Laudna, who uses Delilah as her warlock patron.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: It is unknown whether Delilah was a necromancer ''before'' Sylas died, but she definitely dived further into the dark arts in a hopes of bringing him back to life. She succeeded, but to do so, she turned him into a vicious vampire who she loved no less. Per the campaign wrap-up, [[spoiler:Delilah and Silas were relatively unimportant nobles in Wildemount living fairly normal lives, with Delilah working at a magical academy, before Silas fell ill and died. This drove Delilah to unwittingly strike a deal and begin working with Vecna. Following his whispers is what dragged them into necromancy.]] Given the campaign 2 reveal that [[spoiler: the academy Delilah taught at was none other than the Soltryce Academy, a well-known stomping ground of the Cerberus Assembly and a place where no small amount of atrocities have been committed, it's even less clear where and when her dark magical proclivities started.]]

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler:Her fate at the hands of Vox Machina, in retribution for her killing Percy. She has her arm severed by Vax, the de Rolo crest carved into her forehead by Scanlan, is bisected across the navel by Grog, throttled by Keyleth's Grasping Vines, and for the final blow, Vex unloads one arrow into her heart and a second into her throat.]]

* ManipulativeBastard: She's not just dangerous because she's a dragon. She's dangerous because she's [[spoiler: playing the Chroma Conclave and Vox Machina against each other, and only time will tell which side ends up the victor. In episode 80, that time finally comes, and at the end of it all, ''Raishan emerges victorious.'']]

* BigBad: He is arguably the main villain of Campaign 1, because his influence is felt in more than one arc. He graduates from GreaterScopeVillain in the final arc, beginning his attempt to conquer Exandra as Vox Machina races to find a way to defeat him.

* GodhoodSeeker: His ultimate goal. [[spoiler:He succeeds in ''becoming'' a god, but since GodsNeedPrayerBadly, he lacks the followers to transcend his physical form and manifest a divine domain. As Ioun puts it, the quickest way for him to accomplish this would be to create "a miracle of terror" horrifying and destructive enough to inspire worship out of sheer fear. This "miracle" turns out to be the destruction of Vasselheim: the oldest city in Exandria, seat of power for most of the good-aligned religions, and a fortress that has stood strong for centuries against the forces of evil]].

* BigBad: Of the Chroma Conclave Arc [[spoiler: until his death in episode 79, with Raishan as a minor example of [[TheManBehindTheMan The Dragon Behind the Dragon]].]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Ascends to this position following Thordak's death, but she doesn't hold it for long.]]

* ArchEnemy: To Vox Machina, but also to the Prime Deities, since Vecna intends to replace them as the god of Exandria and has been working against them since before the Calamity. More specifically, it is known that he is directly opposed by the Raven Queen the Matron of Ravens and Ioun the Knowing Mistress, who work towards ending his reign of terror.[[note]]The Raven Queen, because Vecna currently exist as a lich and goes against the natural order of life and death via various necromantic spells aimed at creating and raising undead. The Knowing Mistress, as Vecna wants to be a god of closely guarded secrets and of arcane magic knowledge to tighten his grip on power, while Ioun is about wanting others to discover and spread knowledge, as well as having the choice to use that knowledge for good or evil.[[/note]]

* BigBad: He is the closest thing to an over-arching villain in Campaign 1, because his influence is felt in more than on arc. He graduates from GreaterScopeVillain in the final arc, beginning his attempt to conquer Exandra as Vox Machina races to find a way to defeat him.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the original home game, Brimscythe was much younger and weaker than the other members of the Conclave in order to balance against the party's relatively low character levels at the time. In the animated series, Brimscythe is much larger than a "young" or "adult" dragon would be, implying that he is an ancient dragon like his peers.

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:Vax dies when the kraken swallows him. Pike resurrects him when she joins the group after they return to the material plane.]]

* KrakenAndLeviathan: It's not entirely clear whether the kraken is a giant squid like in the first few editions of D&D, or the tentacle-covered sea serpent of 5E. It can channel electricity like the 5E kraken, but Matt Mercer mentioned its "beak" a couple of times. The 5E Kraken has a fanged maw, while the squidlike krakens have squid-like beaks.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: As gunslingers, she is the Technician to Percy's Performer. The guns she makes are described as being simple and functional, "utilitarian" as Matt puts it. They lack the stylization and flourishes of Percy's work. Also, she perfers to use abilities that provide straight-forward increases to damage (at greater risk of a mifire) instead of the trick shots that Percy relies on.

** [[spoiler: His ascension to godhood technically seals him on the Material Plane, because the Divine Gate prevents deities from entering other planes of existence just as it prevents them entering ''from'' from other planes of existence. This is why Vecna moved Thar Amphala to the Material Plane from the Shadowfell before the ascension completed.]]