Vox Machina season 3 Easter eggs: Critical Role callbacks

Season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina, the animated series that began in 2022 with Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien and Taliesin Jaffe among its cast, is full of nods to the Critical Role campaigns and the Kith and Kin novel. I went through all 12 episodes for the Easter eggs I spotted. My overall take: the show changes a lot of the bulk of the campaign, but not necessarily for the worse.

It also leans hard on two themes, grief and love. I'll come back to how one line from Allura quietly set up the season's biggest payoff.

Gilmore's hometown and the Ruby of the Sea open season 3

The first episode picks up right where season 2 left off. The party is still talking to the little dragon that came in disguise, learning about Thordak's plan, and insulting Kiki, which is not cool. Then they head to the town where Gilmore grew up. I love seeing anything to do with Shaun Gilmore, and I love seeing him and Vax interact. There's also a joke at Matthew Mercer's expense about High Noon, the Cassidy line from Overwatch. I love that they're poking fun at their neighborhood DM.

Scanlan splits off to find his daughter, who is playing in a tavern nearby. While he goes bar hopping he has the flask Sam uses as a joke in all of the campaigns, and the large thing he drinks from looks normal size in Scanlan's hand. We also get the Ruby of the Sea, which is exciting. She's Jester's mom, Laura Bailey's character, and the person Laura will voice when the Mighty Nein get a show. Here she's an established courtesan with folk songs about her.

Scanlan gets his daughter to agree to talk, but he keeps drinking. When they finally speak, it doesn't work out and she leaves. One day he'll get there. I'm rooting for Scanlan so hard.

Anna Ripley, the Pepperbox and Orthax

The show brings up the Clasp, the thieves guild from Kith and Kin. That book tells the origin of Vax and Vex right before they join Vox Machina, and in it Vax joins the Clasp to protect Vex, doing jobs for them so she stays safe.

Percy is the inventor of guns in this universe, so anyone else with a gun got it from him. When he sees black powder and a gunshot wound, the party knows it wasn't Percy because he was with them. They chase a fleeing figure, and it's Ripley with the Pepperbox, Percy's weapon in season 1. She captures him, and Percy realizes Orthax, the demon that used to possess him, now possesses Ripley. She can hold a decent conversation with him, so she seems more in control of Orthax than he was.

The heartbreaking thing about Percy is that his best laid plans come back to bite him. He built weapons to avenge his family, and that came back as Orthax. Later in life, without spoiling too much, one of his kids ends up a tiefling because of a deal he makes, and he carries that grief and regret heavily. I love that he tries, probably a little too much, and it hurts him in the end.

Scanlan saves Percy, and nobody thanks him

Percy is set to be killed and transformed, probably into a dragon or one of the guards. As the others are escorted out of the castle, they run into Scanlan, who goes back and shows them a vision with his sword, Mythcarver. It proves Ripley was behind it, and Percy is freed. Vex then tells Percy he can't carry all this guilt, and he asks her what it is he wants. Scanlan, drinking, also tries to kiss Pike, and she says no. Understandable.

Here's a detail I flagged as one to keep in mind: they don't thank Scanlan. They only say it's a good thing they ran into him. I wouldn't explain why at the time, but I said to note the slights against Scanlan.

In Draconia they meet a dragonborn friend of Allura and Kima. I read that as a reference to Tiberius, the dragonborn from the campaign, as the same kind of character.

Grief and love run through the whole season

There's an overlying theme of grief this season: grief of things you wanted, of love, of life. It's not without mention that the voice actor for Thordak has passed away, so every scene with Thordak is a reminder that someone was lost far too soon.

The overlying theme of Critical Role, though, is that love, the love you give and receive and that forms you, will always be stronger than grief, loss or hate. Vax and Vex have their sibling love. Pike and Grog are best friends. Pike has her grandfather, and Scanlan has his love for his daughter. Percy's revenge is fueled by love. Grog's love for people was stronger than his loyalty to the Herd, so he betrayed them. My expectation was that grief would be heavy, but love would probably prevail as always.

Pike's wager with a Calamity figure in hell

In hell, the party meets a figure from a different Critical Role campaign, a member of the Ring of Brass, who fought in the Calamity, the war of gods and people. He plays a game with Pike. If she wins, she gets the Vestige. If she loses, she stays and works for him.

His backstory differs slightly from the campaign. There he's already a widower when we meet him; in the show he says he gave himself up for his family. That campaign was DM'd by Brennan Lee Mulligan from Dropout, and there's a cute little portrait of Matt, Brennan and Aabria, all Critical Role DMs. The original player said the character held the Everlight in high regard despite not worshipping her, since both had been betrayed by Asmodeus. I think that's why he picks up on Pike. I know they want to do a Calamity animation, and I hope we get it one day.

Pike asks whether he'd wish his family were there, and it trips him up. He looks at his card, she guesses the one she needs, and she wins the Vestige and frees her friends. Afterward, the fallen knight asks Thordak what to do, and the order is to kill Vox Machina but spare Pike. A seed of doubt has been planted.

Keyleth and Allura mirror Vex's fears

Vex keeps insisting she and Percy can't get involved because they need to stay clear headed, and she's afraid because of what's happening to Allura and Keyleth. Percy meets her where she's at and doesn't feed her fears. Meanwhile, Allura distrusts Keyleth's tactics because she's worried Keyleth will get hurt, and Keyleth says she fights that way to keep Allura from getting hurt. All these parallels work together.

In the dragon fight, an arrow is fired, Keyleth enchants it, and a tree grows inside the dragon and kills it. Vex leans against Percy, and he looks down at dragon scales, which I hoped meant she'd get her dragon scale armor. The next batch looked like Glintshore, and my advice for anyone who knew what that meant was to grab tissues.

To take a long rest, Scanlan offers his mansion, reached with a key that opens any door. It reminds me of Taako's pocket spa in The Adventure Zone. Vex found the key and Scanlan stole it, so they have a spat. They get a beach episode, Keyleth and Vax's talk goes badly, and then Scanlan blows up at everyone. Pike shows him where his daughter is, and he leaves. Back in Whitestone, Percy fires into the air and names Ripley, setting up Glintshore.

Percy's death and my theory about his soul

The middle batch is about finding Ripley and defeating Thordak. After Percy confesses his feelings to Vex without hearing anything back, she sets off a trap and he's taken. It's a heartbreaking parallel to the campaign trap that killed her. Percy forgives Ripley to prove he's no longer a creature of revenge, then dies at her hand.

The gun he drops as a sign of forgiveness glows when he dies. I believed he probably had his soul taken by Orthax, especially because Pike says he's gone instead of dead, which sounds like she can't feel his soul at all. I hoped it would resolve within three episodes, but I knew Taliesin had wanted Percy's resurrection to be hard. Kash's death runs parallel, with the Raven Queen collecting him, and I'm sad we won't get more of a Kash who was supposed to become a father.

The group lost their baby brother, since Percy is the youngest. In the campaign he tells Grog he's excited to have a big brother again. Scanlan wasn't there either time Percy was in trouble recently, and I was curious how he'd mourn.

Vex's grief echoes Kith and Kin

Kith and Kin covers the twins learning their mother died, and I think Vex's mourning for Percy is similar. In the book, Vex runs from things that overwhelm her. The twins returned to Byroden to find Thordak had attacked and their mother was gone without anyone telling them. In the book she says, "I always thought that we would be able to go home."

That's why she can't let anyone close. In the book her grief is guilt and denial, and that's her focus with Percy. Vax spent that night comforting her, and they visited their mother's grave the next day, which is probably how he knew where to find her. At the grave, she promised to keep walking away, and that's what she does when she says she needs to leave Vox Machina and Whitestone. Some people thought she was out of character, but grief isn't predictable.

She was also withdrawn at her mother's funeral, where they prayed to the Dawn Father, the deity she'll one day serve. I liked that she said nothing at Percy's funeral.

Allura's love line foreshadowed Percy's resurrection

The memory where Allura says there's nothing stronger than love is important foreshadowing. Taliesin wanted the resurrection to be hard because Percy was content: he had confessed to Vex, forgiven Ripley and left revenge behind. What brings him back is Vex saying her heart always belonged to him and that she loved Whitestone, ending with "I should have told you. It's yours." That love is stronger than just missing him.

The final episodes: Trent Ikithon, the twins and the Clasp

By the last three episodes, as I understood it, the show had been confirmed for a fourth season, which is cool while animation is being cut. In Ripley's backstory, the mage who picks up the rock is Trent Ikithon, who ruined the life of Caleb Widogast, the Mighty Nein character Liam plays. We hate Trent Ikithon in this house, but seeing him was cool.

Keyleth, the future Voice of the Tempest, leaves because her voice isn't heard. The twin mission feels so Kith and Kin, with Vex scaling rooftops and Vax sneaking behind. It's the city where Vox Machina first formed to rescue a kidnapped Vax, under the Clasp's command. Vax knows their debts are paid in blood: in the book he sees a member's tongue cut out, then that member transformed into Vex.

Vex takes Ripley without the rest of Vox Machina

Unlike the campaign's group kill right after Percy dies, only the twins face Ripley. Vex decided killing Thordak brought nobody back. One arrow, Percy's own, goes to her heart, the second kill shot to the heart from that arrowhead. Then comes a favorite campaign moment: "I want an arrow straight through her heart. And one in her mouth as she screams." I didn't think they'd do it, and I'm very glad they did. I did ask then whether they left the Vestige that becomes Percy's in the ocean.

Scanlan without Bard's Lament

Pike finds Scanlan's daughter to wake him from his coma. I'm mourning Bard's Lament, where Scanlan feels so unappreciated they can't remember his mother's name. I worried his wish at Vex and Percy's wedding, and his effort to save Vax in the battle where Vax dies, wouldn't hit as hard. Much of this is because Ashley Johnson was busy during campaign one, so Pike left. His daughter's song might replace it. Sam's human artificer, who joins to prove himself to his father, is important enough that Vex and Percy both fight over him as best man.

Sam worked through throat cancer and is thankfully on the mend, so I understand the step back. I hope we get Bard's Lament someday.

Vax's bargain with the Matron of Ravens and Percy's cane

Keyleth gets her full power in the final battle; I want her to take a nap. Vax hears Percy might be in the gun. Going against the Matron of Ravens, they revive him without Kash, with Keyleth, Allura and Shaun helping. Vax says he'd give his whole soul for Vex to have one happy day, which was everything to me. The Raven Queen tells Bell's Hells in Campaign 3 that Vax surprised her.

Orthax made it harder by forcing Percy to be content. Vex's confession is longer and more specific, and I enjoyed it, plus Vax confirming Percy is already his brother. Vax returns decaying on his arm. Percy jokes about jogging by 60, but decades later he still uses the cane. People want to awaken the Whispered One, which may keep that title for copyright reasons, and Delilah Briarwood should be in the final fight. They change a lot, but it's not necessarily for the worse.