Warning: this article contains spoilers for season 3 ofThe Legend of Vox Machina.
The final episodes of season 3 of Amazon’sThe Legend of Vox Machinahave profound implications for the show’s future – not least because they introduce some hithertounseen elements fromDungeons & Dragonslore. While one major villain has been vanquished, the intrepid heroes have an even bigger fight ahead of them as the story stakes continue to rise. But while this season ended with some major mysteries both solved and unsolved, it also answered some lower-stakes questions that have been on audiences' minds.
Dungeons & Dragons, whichThe Legend of Vox Machinais heavily inspired by, features all sorts of fantastical people, some more humanoid than others. Yet until season 3, all the characters seen onscreen were either humanoid (humans, gnomes, dwarves, elves, goliaths, and so on), feyfolk like Garmelie, or dragonborn. This obviously raised the question ofwhere the other species from theD&D Player’s Handbookmight be. Thankfully, season 3 has finally given us this key piece of character diversity.
Legend Of Vox Machina Season 3, Episode 10 Included Beast Species
Outside of the brief flashback we saw of Vax fighting (and assumedly killing) a tiger-faced fiend known as a rakshasa in season 1,The Legend of Vox Machinahasn’t really dealt with the various kinds of beastfolk, which are a key element in most ofD&D’s settings. However, season 3, episode 10 finally did introduce them. While investigating the town of Stilben on their hunt for Doctor Ripley, Vex and Vax are helped by a tabaxi member of the Clasp thieves' guild. Once they find Ripley, her pirate crew includes several beastfolk, including a raven-like kenku and an aarakocra.
The kenku and their shipmates are playing Uk’otoa, a board game based on Campaign 2 of Critical Role.
The arrival of the beastfolk has profound implications forThe Legend of Vox Machina. Beyond showcasing a willingness to include all aspects ofD&Dlore,it also suggests that the core cast could expand in season 4 and beyond. With beastfolk having been officially introduced, there’s every possibility that they could play a major role in the story, changing the series in the process.
Beast & Animal Species Are A Big Part Of D&D Lore
Dungeons & Dragonshas always included animal-inspired optionsfor both players and NPCs alike.The avian aarakocra appeared in the very first edition of the game, specifically in 1981’sFiend Foliosourcebook, and have been an option for player characters ever since appearing in the August 1987 issue ofDragonmagazine. The cat-like tabaxi also first appeared in the 1981Fiend Folio, although they weren’t made a playable species until the most recent edition, appearing in 2016’sVolo’s Guide to Monsters. Both species even made appearances inDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Kenku, who are also avian but smaller and generally raven-like, also first appeared in theFiend Folio. Much like the tabaxi, they weren’t available as a player character option untilVolo’s Guide to Monsters. Sadly, there were no kenku inHonor Among Thieves.
Tabaxi were nowhere to be found inDungeons & Dragons' second through fourth editions, although 3e and 4e both had the very similar cat-folk as a player character option.
WithThe Legend of Vox Machina’s fourth season renewalalready confirmed, it’s only a matter of time until we see what otherDungeons & Dragonsminutiae the team from Critical Role have in store. In the meantime, there will be plenty of time to cry about Vax and Percy inThe Legend of Vox Machinaseason 3 finale’s perfect reunion.
The Legend of Vox Machina
The Legend of Vox Machina is an animated series that follows a group of rowdy misfits turned mercenaries. As they prioritize easy money and leisure over duty, they find themselves as the unlikely heroes tasked with defending the kingdom from impending evil and restoring justice.
