Vex’s ability to sense dragons: - Mechanically, it is a feature of Vex’s class, Ranger, which basically gets to pick a type of creature that it is good at tracking - In the show, it is explained as Vex studying dragons after her and Vax’s mother was killed by a dragon, plus her natural talent

@Musabre

11 ай бұрын

She explained it herself i think in episode 1? when they get beat by the blue dragon in the wilderness. She talks about how she studied them and can somehow sense them.

The Matron of Ravens is a completely lawful neutral deity of Death and Fate. Death is a part of the natural order of fate and its her job to safeguard that order and preserve the balance. She is not evil or cruel. She just has a responsibility and rules to uphold.

@Jail4minD

11 ай бұрын

To put it on one sentence: to preserve the sanctity of natural death. Every one fate is to eventually die. And when that day comes, your soul must leave this world. So preserve this valence, and punish those that break it like Dalila and Sylas. Being and using un death.

They kinda glossed over the fact that Scanlan's life before Vox Machina wasn't much more than a string of one night stands as he worked as a traveling bard. He has no problem lying his way into someone's bed, and he was well aware that he likely had children out in the world.

Vex'ahlia is a Ranger, with Dragons as her Favored Foe; so she is basically an expert on tracking and general knowledge about Dragons. In the show, that's represented as her "spidey sense" of when a dragon is near (in the D&D game, it's a mechanic known as Primeval Awareness) activating.

@malcolmrowe9003

11 ай бұрын

In the game, the ranger has to actively announce that he or she is scanning a radius of about a mile (IIRC), whereas in the show they have changed it into a passive sense over what seems to be a shorter range.

@hhylobates4098

11 ай бұрын

@@malcolmrowe9003 Yes in the game the ability is clearly founded in magic as it uses a spell slot to activate. In the show by changing it to a passive effect the rules are now fluid to suit the situation: Vex can sense the conclave first approaching Emon from way off on the horizon, but when they want Umbrasyl to do a surprise attack in episode 6, for no apparent reason she cant sense him until the roof is already caving in.

@user-jt1js5mr3f

11 ай бұрын

@@malcolmrowe9003 an example of a change that suits a different medium

@malcolmrowe9003

11 ай бұрын

@@user-jt1js5mr3f maybe, although it does seem to puzzle a lot of reactors who aren't familiar with D&D or Critical Role, so perhaps they could have done something to explain it better in the changed medium.

@user-jt1js5mr3f

11 ай бұрын

@@malcolmrowe9003 vex addressed it earlier in season 1

2:47 the Burt reference is a nod to when Scanlan would deceive people he’d sometimes use the name Burt Reynolds. It was funny. They obviously can’t use that name in the show. 12:53 in a different context, fighting a different battle, Scanlan says this line but says “you leave when Burt Reynolds tells you to leave”

Funfact the set of frames that became the dragons intestines was labeled "umbrASSyl BOOTY TUBE" it was showcased on the vox machina watch party videos when the episodes were being released. the cast reacted to them on twitch then had a discussion regarding those episodes, but they only reuploaded their after episode discussion on the creation of the set of episodes that released that week on youtube, vox machina releases 3 episodes per week when theres a new season (keep this in mind when season 3 drops). The watch party videos are in the "Watch Parties" playlist on the critical role youtube channel if you want to watch on your own time, they showcase the character and monster designs, rough frames and animatics, with some of their guest voice actor friends and some of the artists that worked in the visual design like the cities, characters, and the monsters.

The chances of Kaylie meeting Scanlan were pretty high because she was looking for him. In the game, Kaylie joined Dr. Dranzel's Spectacular Traveling Troupe because it was Scanlan's old troupe (Dr. Dranzel 'discovered' Scanlan; wasn't just a fanboy). So she was going from town to town, playing the venues, hoping she'd run into him. The father/daughter drama originally happened in Emon just before the Chroma Conclave attacked. They ran into her again in Westruun.

Maybe it's because my career is in funeral services but I love how they handle the Matron.

Vax as a champion is meant to uphold the balance of life and death with the Matron of Ravens. So when that balance tips the Matron will send Vax into action, being fate-touched (able to bend the threads of fate) is a tool that will help him in that job. So like Vax versus undead or unnaturally extended life. This is primarily is why Vax is working for the Matron of Ravens, becoming her champion is one of the consequences for letting Vex continue to live, it is partially paying the toll.

You guys understood Vax's purpose correctly. He is the champion of the Matron of Ravens, who is a goddess of Death, Fate, and Winter. And his job is to ferry the souls of the dead into the afterlife, like an Angel of Death. And as you said, the Matron isn't evil, but because we don't want to die, it's easy to see her as foreboding. Vax is also "fate-touched", so he can see the threads and flow of fate, which is another reason she was drawn to him (which out of game was something Matt did for Liam as a bit of a gift in-game, since Liam was struggling with the loss of his mother at the time). There is also another reason for the Matron to have a champion, rather small by comparison and nothing nefarious, but I won't spoil that in case it comes up in the future. As for Vex's ability to sense dragons, it was mentioned briefly in the first season, so no spoilers here. It's tied to the death of their mother, and is part of her training as a ranger. In D&D, as part of the connection to the natural world around them, rangers have an inherent ability to sense when certain foes they loathe are in the area. Like a "spidey-sense", though, so not pinpoint accuracy. And Percy - yeah he did take more of a backseat this season, which was intentional as the first season was so devoted to his story. He's still got his cool moments, but this was a chance to spotlight other members of the party/team. I know you've already seen how this ends, so I'll just say it's been fun "rewatching" this season with you both, and I'm looking forward to your reaction to the finale!

@PuffyCloud_aka_puffeclaude

11 ай бұрын

Except he's not a reaper or ferryman, she is. He's her champion, an avatar of a deity's power on the material plane. He fights for her ideals and against those who would cheat fate, twisting the threads and spoiling the beauty of the tapestry they weave. Having said that... It's clear the show is keeping the audience as confused as Vax is on purpose. Showing us his fears manifested in visions instead of the truth, revealing it slowly. That means, there's more to come, which also means both you and I are technically spoiling in this thread. So in an effort to be helpful, I'll say, you're supposed to be confused here to a degree, and also that our lovable reactors don't yet understand just how long this story really is, or how deeply everything gets connected, seasons later, as is evidenced by their surprise that we weren't reaching the end of this arc soon. But that's okay, because it keeps getting deeper and more awesome with each 3 episode block, and there's no signs of slowing.

@cconnelly7010

11 ай бұрын

@@PuffyCloud_aka_puffeclaude Respectfully, I think we have so far remained well within the bounds of information already presented enough through seasons 1 and 2 of TLoVM without reaching into more of the story and critical plot points presented in later parts of C1. I do like how you've presented the champion vs. deity aspect, and as you and I are both as eager to avoid getting into any true spoilers as any Critter, we can simply say, "Bidet!"

@ShadowyFox_86

11 ай бұрын

@PuffyCloud_aka_puffeclaude I have to disagree with your point about the Matron being the reaper or ferryman in the analogy. She rules over the moment of death but all the gods are behind not able to directly influence the mortal realm. What we do know of the Champion's role more fits with that analogy, among other duties.

The golden threads are not lifelines. They just represent fate. The strings of fate. They just loosely represent how your life is connected to others and how you are going to influence them. The Matron of Raven's domain includes not only death but even fate and winter. Destiny is a bit of a running theme in the story. It's not a big part imo. but it is to a fair degree

The scene with the Matron is everything i needed to hear about death. It cures my soul and pain every time.

I think almost everyone figured we'd get the three main arcs of Vox Machina each in a season (Briarwoods, Chroma Conclave, X?) but then halfway through this season it was clear that isn't the case. I don't know if there's anything official of how many seasons they are aiming for or that every season length is just created then and there when they go back through their own story to adapt it. Right now there's no reason LoVM couldn't be a 10+ season story, the material for it is there. If I were to guess there's at the very least 3 more seasons but probably much more. If it's renewed for season 4 I would not be surprised if they start releasing both a LoVM and a The Mighty Nein season each year.

10:07 Vex already explained that in the first episode of the season 1 ,after one of the dragons killed her mom she started studying the dragons and she learned the ability to feel them when they are close

I have always seen Scanlan and his daughter's relationship as the turning point needed for Scanlan to stop running and confront his actions head on. In addition, he himself had mentioned chapters before to the sphinx that has no one to love. Nobody said it had to be a romantic love. This is his chance to love and be loved in a family bond with Kaylie, but it won't be easy.

The name drop of Bert when Scanlan was listing off possible moms for Kaylie, while not 100% confirmed to my knowledge, feels like a reference to the alter-ego Sam made for Scanlan, Bert Reynolds Esquire. And yes, that Burt Reynolds. They couldn't use that name in the series for obvious reasons, but they still got their reference in there. Also it lets those who have only seen the animated series in on Scanlan's varied history of intimate partners.

True story. 'Fate touched' seems to come from a D&D campaign he ran before the one he ran that was composed of the CR cast. I remember him talking about it in a panel where that group (I remember him mentioning Chloe Dykstra was part of that group) went to the Shadowfell and half the party died after being paralyzed by ghouls (they have an effect that can do that). One of the characters of that group was fate-touched, I think it may have been Chloe. I don't know if that campaign actually ended or if it just died out due to real life obligations as many D&D campaigns do, but it looks like he carried over that idea into this campaign and likely expanded on it. It is always good to reuse and build on those ideas you liked that worked from previous campaigns.

Another point about the Matron of Ravens - she doesn't mind magical healing or even resurrection spells but she really hates necromancy, which seems pretty reasonable after last season which was basically the fallout of Delilah refusing to let Silas go and resorting to the most hardcore necromancy she could find.

When it comes go Kaylie, you've gotta remember that she's spent her entire life resenting him for not being there. You can't fix that in a day. A lot of reactions are emotional, not logical. She's got a lot of shit to work through.

@elmi17

10 ай бұрын

Agreed, and to add to that point, it is extremely hard for a regular commoner to locate a traveling bard/adventurer. Even with magic unless you are a powerful magic user yourself you usually end up paying said magic user and those higher level locator spells can be expensive. It's not like they exchanged phone numbers or could track his location based on his social media activity like you could in our world. Just in Kaylie's'Sybil's defense, it wasn't a simple matter of them neglecting to tell Scanlan, they probably straight up had no way of pinning him down long enough to contact him.

The matron isnt just the goddess of death she also holds domain over fate and winter... vax is fate touched meaning he can see the threads of fate and has the power to influence and bend fate. As the story continues you will learn more of the purpose champions have.

@wolfox7776

11 ай бұрын

I could be wrong, but that might be a reference to Vax having the Lucky feat in Campaign.

@AnxietyRat

7 ай бұрын

​@@wolfox7776no, I mean Vax did have the lucky feat but he was also titled as Fate Touched in the campaign. Which is something separate in Matt Mercer's world's than being a champion of a god/dess or having the Lucky feat... Matt has talked in convention panels about previous player characters that have also been fate touched in the past. It's not something that he gives very often to his player characters... but he HAS given it to other people than Vax and Liam. It's a special gift that he gives to a certain players in the world's he creates... From what I understand, that previous fate touched character was not in Exandria so it's not like an Exandria exclusive title thing it's something that he's done before in other world settings as well. There's one specific panel on KZread that I can remember watching so if you type in like Matthew Mercer Fate Touched... it should pop up. 🤷‍♀️

Some answers for y'all: - Vax's role as a Champion is loosely defined as "a servant" to the Raven Queen, and he does her bidding, which in this case is shepherding the souls of the dead. In a sense, he's kinda her right-hand man and has a direct line to her. - I've seen people already comment this, but Vex can sense when the dragons are near because she studied them for a long time after one killed her mother. - As for Percy taking a backseat, it's largely because season one was HIS season. This one began opening the door for more and more characters, and I imagine that season three will follow the same route of balancing multiple storylines and character arcs. So fun facts: - In the campaign, Scanlan and Vax Dimension Door'd inside Umbrasyl. However, I think it's even funnier that they went in... the back way in the campaign, because it somehow feels even more in character. - Scanlan and Vax (Sam and Liam) are best friends in real life, so their escapades as Vax and Scanlan always make me chuckle. Critical Role started as a birthday present to Liam nearly ten years ago, and Liam invited Sam to play along for the first time. - Funnily enough, Liam and Laura are birthday twins in real life (though Liam is five years older), and that's the origin of how they created Vex and Vax. They both wanted to play similar characters and since they had the same birthday (and the same first letter of their names), they decided to play as twins in the campaign.

@AnxietyRat

7 ай бұрын

Yeah, I'm fine with them going up the butt of the dragon.... It's very very reminiscent of "guiding bolt up the butt" line that Pike would say every time she cast guiding bolt. Lmao. Yeah, it does feel very in character for them to make that tiny change and end up in the same place, ultimately.

Vex's dragon sense comes from being a Ranger. The Ranger is a hybrid class that mixes physical fighting with druid magic. They are essentially hunter Druids. Same connection to nature as Keyleth, but focused on hunting certain creatures. They decided to significantly nerf all the characters' powers for the animated show, so all her 'magic' comes from her enchanted weapons.

@ShadowyFox_86

11 ай бұрын

The enchanted weapons thing isn't due to nerfing. It's a matter of simplifying the storytelling. Your average person with no D&D knowledge doesn't need the mechanics to enjoy the show when it's done this way.

10:05 It's part of her abilities as a Ranger. It's called Primeaval Awareness. Basically it allows a Ranger to detect if there are creatures of a few certain types in a certain radius. It's not techically limited to dragons, and you have to trigger it and spend a spellslot to use that feature, but they simplified it to this kind of dragon specific spidey sense for the show. They combined it with a different feature that allows you to choose a favoured enemy (making you better at tracking and knowing stuff about them). Laura (Vex) chose dragons as one of her favoured enemies, because her and Vax's mother was killed by a red dragon. She mentioned that in season one and also that she's been studying them for a while, hoping to find the one that did it.

I recommend watch the moment Scanlan suggested “entering” Umbrasyl in the campaign. The face that he makes is similar to the face Matt made.

The episode ended like that because they wanted to do to the viewers what Matt did as a DM in the live game. He called end of game after Umbrasyl flew away in the live show as well, leaving fans and players waiting for a whole week.

14:24 Because that's _literally_ how that episode of the campaign ended. Party separated, two of them inside a dragons stomach. In case you thought the cliffhangers were just a thing for the show. One of my favourite little things about Critical Role is how the cast will yell out their protests any time Matt ends an episode on a cliffhanger, or when they just really wanna keep playing. Look up 'Ashley Johnson wants to keep on playing Dungeons and Dragons' by SpeckoVids. It's very fun (and non spoilery).

@CliffSedge-nu5fv

20 күн бұрын

Matt's cliffhangers are brutal!

Ripley is Tal'Dorei's answer to Josef Mengele. All she cares about is getting her "work" done, moral or amoral as it may be. She claimed moral disagreements with the Briarwoods, but it was most likely more about her saving her own skin or getting out before she couldn't get what she wanted. Y'all should be used to the cliffhangers by now. The matron is not just about death -- she's also about fate.

In the campaign, the plan to go inside Umbrasyl was Vax’s idea.

@CliffSedge-nu5fv

20 күн бұрын

The switch to Scanlan's "There is a way, ... the other way." was perfect.

Vex'ahlia's dragon sense is briefly explained in Season 1, Episode 1. A dragon killed their mother, and she spent time studying them to a point she can sense them. It's a reflection of her "Favored Enemy" feature as a Ranger in D&D, where she chose Dragons and can sense and track them. Vax is Fate-touched and can see threads of fate. The Matron of Ravons is a Goddess of both Death and Fate. Now that you've seen this, I can explain in S2E4 when Vex dies, Vax sees her soul rising and his thread is connected to Vex. They're twins, and their fates were intertwined. However, after he bargained for her life, the Matron severs their joined fate and returns Vex's soul to her body. Later that episode we see Vax's thread, his Fate, then tied to the Matron of Ravens.

So basically this whole time the Vax has had the armor he's tried to run from it, he is scared, as shown in the arc with Vex dying and their past. Every time the matron shows up he is scared and tries to run from the matron or take the armor off. This episode when he speaks to her is two fold. One it explains the "fate touched" which is a background in D&D that basically the DM can give someone in secret it basically means they are super important, and they can change the course of fate. Then there is the part about the matron and her duties, the Matron / Raven Queen, (multiple names and interpretations) is a completely neutral deity bearing a lawful signature, basically the natural order of life to death must be preserved, basically necromancy is bad mkay! This moment between Vax and the Matron shows the growth of Vax, a understanding of the truth of death, (in the campaign its also when Liam begins to accept the matron) and such Vax begins to accept what the matron is and what she represents. The entire time its been about confronting his fear, seeing death, and accepting the natural cycle so that he's not afraid of dying, or death for one cannot shepherd the souls across the precipice if one fears death. That's a quick summary of that whole plot thread. Vex is a ranger they have favorite enemies and basically they can sense when they're around, they explain it in S1E1 but it is the most brief explanation of it ever.

Just love that Liam got to play both sides of the "accept the gift/accept destiny" around the same time. This is him and Travis again kzread.info/dash/bejne/hphk0rewoqW9msY.html

She is indeed good tattoo material I have a tattoo of The Matron of Ravens, though not the cartoon version.

SPOILER-ISH (but not really): The Critical Role crew announced at a convention that the currently storyline, "The Chroma Conclave", was going to be expanded across two seasons, so it is currently slated to finish up in Season 3. Obviously, with one episode left, it would be really bad if they just killed off 4 dragons in one 25 minute episode after struggling against Umbrasyl across multiple episodes this season.

i think Keily´s problem with Scanlan is that he make a lot of promises to her mother so that he can sleep with her and then abandon them both. i know you can justify by saying that he didnt know that she even exist, but been this asshole who use women and then leave with out thinking about the consecuences its the whole point of this storyline, i think its nothing wrong about sleep around and having fun, but when you do it with out caring of the people you left behind your past is gonna find you and bite you in the ass eventually.

Vax is fate touched, not in complete control of fate but capable of changing what fate has planned. In game that simply consisted of him being able to reroll bad rolls a certain amount of times a day.

@ShadowyFox_86

11 ай бұрын

You're thinking of the Lucky feat, which is not the same as Fate-Touched. That's a specific thing that characters may have that is not tied to the Lucky feat. We know this due to other characters that are confirmed to hold the same title

@moarblood5120

11 ай бұрын

@ShadowyFox_86 yes in game it is the lucky feat. In the campaign it was Matt Mercers way of explaining the powers gained from the raven queen. Like they never called it the lucky feat, he was just granted powers that allowed him to reroll/ see the fate/outcome of an event and change it.

@AnxietyRat

7 ай бұрын

​@@moarblood5120no no... We are saying that the lucky feat and fate touched are two SEPARATE things within Matthew Mercer's world. He has talked about it in a panel on KZread in the past that he ran another campaign with another player character who was ALSO fate touched. It has a very specific definition and use within his worlds and it is NOT equivalent to the lucky feat. Vax just also happened to have the Lucky feat.

grog is definitely a little bigger & more filled out!

First!

Grr. Here's another comment, they did explain her sense. It's Dragons. It's... Dragons. Everytime they have seen dragons? Yep. :)

i always find the queen of raven some kind of a hypocrat ... she talks about fate and that everyone needs to die ... but ... i mean she was mortel herself ... she fuckn killed death and took his place so ... a bit hypocracy ... (this aint a spoiler it was told the same episode when vax went into the blood pool but seems to be cut)

@yiklongtay6029

11 ай бұрын

I've always interpreted it as a noble sacrifice. Matt in the campaign stated in vague terms that the previous god of death was evil and tyrannical. The Matron ascended to godhood in order to overthrow him and establish a more benign and "natural" process of death. Unless there is evidence that she is selfish, I am probably gonna just accept Matt's words at face value that this her ascension was not hyocritical

@PuffyCloud_aka_puffeclaude

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's heavily implied that she overthrew a corrupt deity and restored balance and justice for mortals. The other deities weren't exactly happy about it though.

@AlmostOtaku7

11 ай бұрын

How much closer can one be to death? Her mortal shell DID die, the rest transposed into something else. Even if it is that, after thousands of years knowing every moment of death, any hypocrisy would be burned away.

@a_Taveren

11 ай бұрын

@DaxRaider While what you're saying does have some merit, it's kind of a bad take. It is essentially ignoring the possibility that it was her fate to ascend....which is very fitting considering she is the goddess of fate.

@KaraOni13

11 ай бұрын

@@PuffyCloud_aka_puffeclaude the other deities werent happy about the Matron killing OG God of Death was because the OG was their sibling. the Matron basically walked in their house, killed their bro, erased any proof of their existence, then took his job… absolutely wild 😮

Don't understand your attitude towards Kaylie at all.. Scanlan is not a saint