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Mighty Nein: Origins is a High Fantasy Prequel comic book series based on the second campaign
of Critical Role starring the mercenaries known as Mighty Nein. It provides backstory on each of the characters before they met. It is published by Dark Horse Comics.
- Jester Lavorre: Released on October 27, 2021. Written by Sam Maggs with art by Hunter Severn Bonyun, colors by Cathy Le, lettering by Ariana Maher, with direction by Laura Bailey and Matthew Mercer.
- Jester Lavorre had an unconventional upbringing, even for one born in cosmopolitan Nicodranas. Daughter of the famed Ruby of the Sea, she had many opportunities for mischief as a small child, of which she took full advantage! Dive into the mystery of Jester’s early years, her first meeting with the Traveler, and the fateful events that set her on a path to eventually join the Mighty Nein.
- Caleb Widogast: Released on January 12, 2022. Written by Jody Houser with line art by Selina Espiritu, colors by Diana Sousa, lettering by Ariana Maher, with direction by Liam O'Brien and Matthew Mercer.
- Bren Aldric Ermendrud is chosen to attend the exclusive Soltryce Academy, preparing for an important future in service to the Empire. But nobody––least of all Bren himself––can foresee the cruelty he will endure, and the ways in which it will break and remake him. Witness the events that transform Bren into the Mighty Nein’s Caleb Widogast, and how they inform the path he’ll take in the future.
- Yasha Nydoorin: Released February 23, 2022. Written by Cecil Casellucci with line art by William Kirkby, colors by Diana Sousa, and lettering by Ariana Maher. Developed with direction by Ashley Johnson and Matthew Mercer.
- For Yasha, there has always been a storm on the horizon. Maybe it formed with her adoption by the Dolorov people in the harsh lands of Xhorhas. Or perhaps when she fell for her first love, Zuala. Or still later, when grief and madness drove her from her village and out into—somewhere else. Maybe, on the other hand, Yasha IS the storm.
- Nott the Brave: Released on April 6, 2022. Written by Sam Maggs with line art by Kirkby, colors by Mildred Louis, and lettering by Maher. It was developed with direction by Sam Riegel and Matthew Mercer.
- Veth Brenatto doesn’t have an exciting life, but she likes it that way. Unlike her childhood, it’s safe. Predictable. And her husband and son love her as fiercely as she loves them. But Veth’s cozy existence is turned on its head when she and her family are captured by raiders. In order to save them, Veth will commit an atrocity that will sever her from all that she loves—maybe forever—and lead her to become Nott the Brave of the Mighty Nein.
- Fjord Stone: Released on July 13, 2022. Written by Kevin Burke and Chris Wyatt, art by Selina Espiritu and colors by Diana Sousa, with direction from Matthew Mercer and Travis Willingham.
- Growing up in an orphanage on the Menagerie Coast, Fjord Stone has never been comfortable with the assumptions people draw from his half-orc heritage. His sweet, sensitive nature will do him no favors in Port Damali. Luckily, a chance meeting lands Fjord with a job, a mentor, and more adventure than he could ever dream of on the path that will eventually lead him to the rest of the Mighty Nein!
This series contains the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Skyspear was not a kind mother. While teaching Yasha, she tells the girl to stand in a circle and threatens severe punishment if she exits it, then leaves Yasha for days without food before eventually giving her disgusting lizards to eat. Outside of her worst offense of murdering Zuala for marrying Yasha, she also slapped her adopted daughter on at least one occasion.
- Adaptational Explanation:
- Caleb's comic expands upon the circumstances of the events leading into Caleb's 10-year long fugue state. The Origins comic makes it explicit that Bren snapped and attacked Astrid, upon which Eadwulf hit Bren with a huge rock, knocking him unconscious, and left him there on Trent's orders. It would have given Bren a traumatic brain injury and was the real cause of his fugue state in the Vergesson Sanatorium. The cleric who healed him healed his brain injury, freeing him of the damage as well as the false memories implanted by Trent, after which Caleb was up and running. The only allusion to this in the stream were burn scars on Astrid that she implied were from a mad Caleb.
- In the stream, Taliesin described the day Molly woke up buried as being a vague memory the tiefling doesn’t recall very well, and how he was resurrected is never explained. The comic expands on these events, revealing Molly clawed his way out of the ground one night and wandered through the woods until hearing singing, eventually encountering Toya at the circus. It also repeatedly emphasizes the moons while he comes to, implying they are somehow responsible for reviving him.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Being the only orc-blooded child in an Orphanage of Fear meant that Fjord was often picked on and ridiculed by his peers.
- Blood Magic: Molly can utilize his own blood to perform magic, such as creating ice. To conceal this rather disturbing ability, the circus gives him a set of scimitars so he can claim the swords are magic and draw attention away from himself.
- Character Tic: Bren fidgets with a blue shell as he studies.
- Control Freak: Skyspear, leader of the Dolorov tribe and Yasha's adoptive mother. Everyone in the tribe must live according to their gods-ordained role, but Skyspear is the one who dictates what the gods' wishes are. Anyone who sees fault in her decisions and appeals for her to change her mind like Zuala does is a poison that needs to be violently removed.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- Fjord, Jester's eventual fellow party member and love interest shows up to the left of the last panel of Jester's comic.
- When Yasha enters an unnamed town, Molly is standing in front of a cart with his fellow circus troupers.
- Expository Hairstyle Change:
- Yasha's hair begins darkening after Zuala's death and her rampage, eventually almost turning black aside from the ends following ordeal with Obann, both showing her status as a Fallen aasimar, and her state of grief and rage.
- Caleb has his hair in a buzz cut while training to be an obedient weapon for the Empire, but it becomes unkempt with a Beard of Sorrow during his time at the sanatorium, and he keeps it that way after getting free.
- Molly is fully bald when he first wakes up, reflecting his status as a near literal blank slate. Once he acclimates to living and develops a personality, he grows it out and wears it in a messy ponytail.
- Generation Xerox: Long-haired, young Bren is the spitting image of his mother Una.
- Ice Person: Molly first discovers his hemocraft abilities when ice starts sprouting from his blood after he cuts himself grabbing the sword of a bandit.
- Icy Blue Eyes: There's a shot of Bren's blue eyes narrowed in steely determination as he prepares to burn some traitors to the Empire to death.
- I Have Many Names: On the run from Ikithon, Bren Aldric Ermendrud went by various German-esque/Zemnian aliases until the day he met Nott the Brave and introduced himself to her as Caleb Widogast.
- Important Haircut: Doubling with Traumatic Haircut. As part of their Vollstrecker training, molding them into terrible assassins, Astrid, Eodwulf, and Bren get their hair cut short military-style. During his time in the Sanatorium, Bren's hair grew back long from neglect, and afterwards Caleb keeps the style possibly to reassert his identity.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler:
- Summaries for Nott and Caleb's books state their identities as Veth Brenatto and Bren Aldric Ermendrud upfront.
- While not explicitly remarked upon, the comics do not make any attempt to hide Molly's death, as he is absent from the group in all scenes taking place in the present, with Caduceus accompanying them instead.
- Molly's comic opens with him raising from the dead.
- Mythology Gag:
- A statue of two half-elves is in the bath at the Ikithon estate, the male one with a snake and the female one with an arrow, resembling Vax with his snake belt Simon and Vex with her archery. The Blumendrei then have a sexual encounter in the bath. In campaign one, Vax (played by Liam O'Brien, sharing an actor with Bren/Caleb) enters a bath with Percy in it, unaware that Vex was already in the water, possibly enjoying some intimate time with Percy before her twin cut in for a serious talk with her partner.
- The Ermendruds have a little statue of Trinket the armored bear on a shelf. Liam's character Vax was the Cool Uncle to his sister Vex's pet bear in campaign one.
- Polyamory: Caleb's comic canonizes the "Blumendrei" ship of Astrid/Eadwulf/Caleb, with the three of them having emotionally and sexually intimate scenes. According to Liam O'Brien, however, Caleb does not explicitly identify as polyamorous, even though he was in a polyamorous relationship. Granted, the relationship was explicitly encouraged and fostered by Trent Ikithon, for the three traumatized children to be codependent in order to survive their horrific training and indoctrination, rather than any unadulterated attraction between the three.
- Raised Hand of Survival: Molly's comic begins with his hand reaching towards the moons as he claws himself out of his own grave.
- Really Was Born Yesterday: Molly starts off his existence being Born as an Adult in a grave, knowing almost nothing and only replying with "empty" when Toya asks for his name. He gets savvier after some time passes, though.
- Rivalry as Courtship: Yasha and Zuala first got to know each other as rivals in the training grounds with Yasha consistently winning for a long while, but gradually softening toward Zuala.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Upon the murder of Zuala, an enraged Yasha massacred the leadership of her tribe, including her adoptive mother the Skyspear.
- Self-Made Orphan: Courtesy of Modify Memory from Trent Ikithon fooling them into believing their parents were traitors, Eodwulf strangled his parents to death, Astrid poisoned hers, and Bren set his family home on fire with his parents and family cat trapped inside.
- Spell My Name With An S: Astrid's surname is initially spelled as Beck in other material, but the comic spells it as Becke.
- Timmy in a Well: Frumpkin the cat meowing and pawing at the window alerts Leofric and Una that their home is on fire. Subverted because while Leofric initially has his back to the fire, Una was facing the door and would have seen things burst into flame.
- Together in Death: After being unable to flee their house, Leofric and Una hold each other, with their cat Frumpkin between them, as they burn to death.
- Translation Punctuation: Zemnian is rendered as English between angle brackets.
