The Legend of Vox Machina 1x11 REACTION "Whispers at the Ziggurat" 

Also it was implied by the cast that they changed the moment here because of Vex' death in the Sunken Tomb. And it makes sense because this show tells a much tighter narrative and there are not hours of content between Vex' near death here and her death in the Tomb. So having Vex be the center of two very similar beats would feel strange. It also helps the arc of this season and makes the show as a whole surprising to C1 viewers.

Matt crying while watching Keyleth in her epic scene was sooo sweet!

quick trivia: taliesen actually talked about the design of his pepperbox gun having guards similar on the ones on a sword installed on them so that he can deflect melee attacks for that purpose

Pike going away isn't really saerenrae's fault. Isn't that orb of annihilation also meannt to be an anti-magic field? Thus cancelling astral projection

I believe the "vex moment" was changed to cement the change in her feelings towards Keylith. She turned to Kiki in their time of need and was saved by her here. Vex thinks much highly of her after this and approves of her brother pursuing Keylith in future. Vex will still get her moment when we meet the Raven Queen

I know a lot of people already talked about it under your last reaction but Matt described what happened with Cass as a mixture of manipulation and mind control. The mind control only really kicked in after Cass and Percy started reconnecting and it was still subtle. So the little flashes are the mind control nudging Cass towards the Briarwoods. And after Cass managed to break free of that, Sylas reinforced it to completly override Cass instead of helping his and Delilah's manipulation.

I think the change works, especially with the relationship dynamics they set up over the season and the now greater significance it gives to Vex’s later death in the Sunken tomb. Plus this removes Keyleth from the zippertwat so she can’t stick her hand into the spiraling sphere of death. While I loved the close call of her only escaping insta death due to a Nat 20, that could be harder to translate onto screen, especially if it kills so many researchers later. It allows the sphere to feel more ominous.

Another reason for the Vex/Keyleth change (besides not wanting to hit the same beat with Vex pretty much twice in a row) is that Keyleth is already established as being able to heal. With Pike gone and Keyleth down, everyone who has established healing abilities is out. Ups the tension a lot.

I think that is exactly right about the Vex-Keyleth arc.

They already established Keylith can heal. So it's more difficult this way.

That flash back messed me up. I found their relationship more believable than i did in the campaign

I mean, WotC does own Vecna. But what I like about the Whispered One's design is that he's like a perversion of the Knowing Mistress now. Her symbol is a stylized face with a third eye, and the Whispered One here is blindfolded with a visible third eye. Fitting for a god of secrets as opposed to one of sharing knowledge.

My guess is they also changed Vex's near death to make her death later on, and Vax's subsequent deal with the Raven Queen, more meaningful.

So I don't have specific insight into why lines that were yelled in the campaign are now more subdued but I have taken multiple voice acting classes with a teacher who has directed Matt on a few projects. And that teacher/director has a technique he likes to employ about how an emotion being held back can sometimes be more powerful. It wouldn't shock me if that is a common belief among that group of actors. (Although I agree that I also would have loved to hear Delilah yell at least that line out.)

@Jesse DuBois I think the reason they changed "I broke the world for us" from a scream to be more subtle and quiet is so that they could convey more complex emotions within Delilah. It was to truly take us on a journey through Delilah's emotional process. You get her initial pain and anger directed at Vox Machina for killing Sylas, her disbelief that he's actually gone and her sadness at everything she sacrificed for him, and finally her rage and incredulity at Vecna for not bringing Sylas back. The initial pain and anger is the unfiltered scream that unleashed the necrotic aoe explosion. Her disbelief and sadness is "I broke the world for us." And her incredulity is "Bring him back! You promised!" From a realistic and narrative perspective, having two back-to-back screams wouldn't make sense and would make Delilah feel too one-note. Think of it this way, the three aspects of Delilah's emotional journey constitutes a quick and dirty representation of the stages of grief. You have the initial pain and anger, then the numbness that comes with shock and denial, and finally the demand to fix it tinged with a little bit of vengeance. Unfortunately for Delilah, she doesn't survive long enough to go through the final stage of grief: acceptance. "I broke the world for us," in the context of the Animated Series, is the second stage of grief: numbness and denial. And that is reflected in the way she says the line. She no longer has the energy or even the requisite emotional capacity to scream it. She's just going through the motions and processing it. Every emotion Percy went through over the course of many years, Delilah went through in the course of about five minutes.

Percy: "You're not leaving." Ripley: "I'm afraid you overestimate my willingness in this endeavor. And like the Cheshire Cat, I'll just fade away..."

I'm thinking they will keep the smoke flavour & glowing eyes thingy in Animation. In the campaign, he kept those flavour especially the smoke that represented he has "dark scars" on his soul left by Orthax. He could control it (summoned against Craven Edge) and it represented his hex (smoke appears on his targets.) In the show, I think *Hex* is represented as his black orange eyes. The smoke is just a flavor thing (because it's cooler when you have the smoke rather than the enemy gets it. lol) In Ep 6, he most likely didn't have it yet as well in the Campaign. So we see a *pure black eyes* because he's just possessed by Orthax. In the campaign, Matt just says add a d6 to your damage against Stonefell without telling him it's the demon's aid or if it's actually hex. Now in Ep 8, this eye changed to black w/ orange tinge. Because he has officially gotten the Warlock Initiate (yey to level up! Also Orthax was sated, so Percy gets a glow-eye-up) so he can cast hex whomever he wants instead of just vengeance targets. XD I'm so hoping the show doesn't take it away from him. He retained Warlock Initiate afterall in the campaign. Also, just because Orthax is gone now, doesn't mean your soul is fine and dandy in a ray of sunshine like everyone's. It left its taint for years of its influence and corruption. But this could be my wishful thinking... I can only hope.

I like your insights Jesse! thanks for bringing us along on your viewing of The Legend of Vox Machina!

I think the switch works from a narrative standpoint. I'm just bummed because it ruins her perfect record. One of my favorite points to bring up about Keyleth is that she's so powerful that, despite having faced ancient monsters, demons, and demi-gods, the only one who was ever able to defeat her was herself. 😁

I feel like "I broke the world for us" was more impactful when Matt said it.

The ritual creates magical siphons channeling power to Thar Amphala and the Whispered One.

It forces Vex to look at Keylith with non prejudice eyes. It also help Keylith with her need to act without thinking and be her first steps to be a great leader.

To the best of my recollection, the ritual didn't make Thar Amphala go anywhere - it made it more easily accessible to the Material Plane, so that Vecna's acolytes there could gather powerful items and send them to Vecna via spinning orb of death. Vecna could then harness the magic from those items (and people) to finish his quest to become a god. I could be wrong, though - it's been awhile since I watched the Vecna arc

About the effect of the Ritual: The spinning orb of Death is a sifon, drawing power from one of the nexus points, where magical lay lines converge on Exandria, this together with (I believe) two more (they come across one in Marqet) will draw enough power to begin the ritual that will allow the Whispered ones assention. I don't know about Vecna being imprisoned and if this has anything to do with releasing him though. he might just not had a means to reach into the material plane.

I hope they don't change too many more lines going forward... Percy lines I'm looking forward to: - "You're going to have to amend that one name. It's Lady Vex'Ahlia - Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone and Grandmistress of the Grey Hunt." - "I'm sorry my issues have guns." - "Your secret is safe with my indifference." - "The terrible woman may have a point." Percy lines I'm sad we missed out on: - literally everything involving Viktor - "We'll be keeping your weapons, your armour, and, I believe, your pride." - "Vax - screw you. I want my final words with you to be indignant and irritated." (though I feel like they might fit this one in at some other point) - "Like a 14-year old whose father doesn't love him enough to teach him how to groom himself?" - "We slept in a tent! In the woods! With the loudest librarian on God's green Earth!"

The change is notnreally for us critters, it makes more sense for the story the show is telling given the arc Vex and Keyleth are having this season. Vex doesn't trust Keyleth, she doesn't approve of her and Vax, she thinks little of her, but yet here she looked to her for help, and Keyleth gave her life for her agter all the back hand comments and disapprove of her and Vax. It helps Vex's character development, it makes her connect more with the group instead of just her brother after seeing one of them give their life for her, and it makes for an interesting triangle between their friendships. It is honestly sooo much better in the show narratively speaking. It also cements Keyleths confidence down the line as well in a way, and it sets up for a much bigger moment down the line for the show audience.

Keyleth taking the hit for Vex also ramps up the drama a bit next episode. In the campaign most of the drama was just the cast playing things up because Keyleth and Scanlan both had healing magic, so it was just a question of getting Vex far enough away from the Siphon. Scanlan's not been shown to have any healing magic so far, and now Keyleth can't cast her magic, so they're actually going to have to figure something out. There's a few mentions of the Briarwoods during the Conclave arc, mostly having to do with research into the Siphon. I think Vecna was described as being too weak to recorporialize from his Phylactery, and the main thing with the Siphons was feeding him the arcane power he needed to first do that and then ascend to Godhood.

"What is this music?"... Perfect, that's what it is :)

That Delilah cosplay is on point!

I think I like the change of the suntree helping Kiki with the sunbeam instead of Pike, Pike already got to shine (pun intended) and Keyleth is still trying to build up I think. And it was just cool seeing the Suntree help her. Plus it makes sense being the suntree and all

9:12 - *“Oh god, this music is giving me the **_most_** chills!”* 😭 You don't say… 😭 11:33 - *_“That's_** a change…“* The way I see it, their thinking was probably twofold: Firstly, this is a great way to pay off the Vex/Keyleth tension and put Vex's insecure jealousy to rest for good. Secondly, Keyleth already had her Big Damn Hero moment, a minute ago, so it'll be okay for her to be out of commission for a while and mostly sit the next part out. I think that's why they switched them around. Also, Keyleth is the precious, innocent baby whom everybody loves, so it'll _hurt_ more to see her in mortal danger. 😉 Delilah's like, "Come to us, Whispered one! Manifest and make my dream of a happy necromantic family come true!" And Vecna's like, "Woman, I don't have _time_ for your neediness! I'm just here to drop off this Spinning Orb of Death, and them I'm _out."_

Yes, yes that was a JP reference. Fun tidbit I noticed that nobody else *seems* to have caught, is go back to when Keyleth unleashes the first stage of Sun Beam on Sylas.... His eyelids evaporate instantly, so he's forced to stare into the light that whooole time.

Rebels rebels rebels rebels.....lol I always look forward to your reactions And Analysis of the shows you post , I know you probably heard me say it before I 'm just impatient ..

I think the death swap was a combination of completing the Keyleth vex arc and making Vex's death and Vax's deal with the Matron Of Ravens more impactful.

You are going to love the next episode Nothing more needs to be said

I’m glad more people are getting this series cause it feels so underrated & this became my favorite adult cartoon out of the others I’ve watched. I don’t play D&D but Vex, Percy & Vax are my favorites and I do like all of them too

"Why are you fighting with a gun like that? That's not how guns work!" Tell that to Squall in Final Fantasy VIII -- he had an actual gunblade. Lol But seriously, you actually can fight with a gun like that. It's used as a defensive weapon until you can get a clean shot, and if anything, Cassandra is a fencer, which means locking her up in that position means her thrusts are disabled. Also, if you notice, Percy has the flat of her blade against the gun, not the edge -- so it really isn't hurting the gun barrels. Old flintlock pistols were actually used in melee combat more than people think, just like muskets and early rifles with bayonets were. At that point, your pistol became a club, and your musket became a spear.

It's not just the vampire Magick that has Cassandra under control. She had been a captive for 5 years so Stockholm syndrome most likely plays a large part. That is why the fact that they almost killed her doesn't play into her betrayal as much.

I mean I say this as someone who thinks vex got really nerfed this series and hasn't had much screen time or plot compared to the others, I think the change makes sense. We already say that Keyleth is the party's backup healer, like in the campaign though she shares that with Scanlan, while the only magic we see Vex do is multiplying her arrows in one ep. if Scanlan and Keyleth could just heal vex up once they leave the ziggurat it would have cut down some of the drama since healing seems much weaker in the animated world than a dnd world. It helps cement Vex to Vox Machina, something she was reluctant to do a lot more in the series because Laura isn't just going to leave the show and they didn't have a year of adventure under their belt. Yes, if a gun was to her head she might admit she cares for these assholes not just her brother, but seeing Keyleth take the blast for her is kind of soemthing she can't deny. It also lets them skip over Keyleth sticking residuim into the orb of death leaving it much more of a mystery and danger instead of something that you could save with a good role.

I feel like Keyleth dropping to necrotic damage is also for a little more of a shock, because of her big "rise to the occasion" moment just a few minutes before

After this episode I’m totally convinced that Pike and Korra would be besties ;-) As for the Vex change - and I say this as someone who likes Vex btw - at *this* point in the animated series I wonder if new fans wouldn’t maybe be particularly sympathetic to Vex at this point? Certainly not as much as they might for Keyleth jumping in the way for someone who has not been particularly nice to her…..

“Oh uh hi” is an appropriate response to seeing Vecna appear at this point, lmao. Can’t wait for whatever season they decide to bring him back in. 😅✨

The whole Hand and Eye of Vecna as items are inspired by the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn from Michael Moorcock's works, so I guess WOTC can't really have a copyright over them but the character of Vecna himself is entirely original. I guess it's could be considered a sort of grey area to the point Critical Role thought it was better to change that.

LOVM won't be getting Vecna because "Vecna" is copyrighted by WOTC; all deities in Exandria are now canonically (and legally) distinct from the D&D gods they originally were in the early campaign. "The Whispered One" will probably be mechanically similar in LOVM to the D&D version, but maybe visually different to be legally safe. There are plenty of ways to portray a D&D lich in a fantasy animated show that still work like OG Vecna did in C1.

In the watch party Tuesday travis said they wanted to change this up ever so slightly. Having keylith take finger of death, that way new & old viewers got that shock factor

RIP evil Matt Mercer, I will miss him.

Damn. Goth lady gives amazing reactions. Who knew.....

Narrativily, it mak more sense for Keylith to intercept that shot here. Which is why the change happens., i think

A lot of people weighed in on reasons why it 'works' to swap Keyleth in for Vex, but I think it's also just better storytelling for the season. Vex is relatively expendable at this point in the story; Keyleth is much more of a gut punch to new viewers. Like, Vex dying would make viewers go "oh, that's sad," while Keyleth is much more of a "this can't happen."

Percy was pretty good with a sword but I can see why they wouldn't want to animate too many weapons.

Also I don't think that is true about the whispered one and we not getting Vecna. We have to take into account Vecna is a HUGE name for D&D, I doubt they would spend so much money for a tease of him, especially since he won't appear for a while. But I'm almost 1000% Amazon will write them a blank check to pay for the rights for Vecna once his arc comes up again. Like I cannot see them not having Vecna in all its glory with Matt voicing him in animates form when it's time, no shot that doesn't happen. Plus, we need to setup this form in order to get his more, prestige form. Kind of like in the movie The Mummy how we see his mummified form first and then when its time we see him in all his glory, and then change again for the epic fight. It would be soooooo dumb for WoTC to not gove CR and Amazon the rights for someof the big names coming later from Vecna to Arkhan, to Tiamat, like... Does names are iconic to D&D, hearing them in this show would bring soooo many eyes and players to D&D that WoTC will surely work with them when the time is right for this names and IP's.

Just a little fyi ; pike connection severed due to the anti magic field of the black hole orb thingy.

from the interview I saw, it was partly to mess with the OG critters :) It messed with me LOL. I had the same bag of holy dicks comment :)

My take on the Kiki vs Vex swap is to have the later moment with Vax's offer have more weight.

I was interested seeing what another critter's thoughts were regarding the change they made at the end. It seems like they're streamlining things from the actual campaign. I didn't mind it but the difference was jarring.

Probably so her one death in the story isn’t as a dumb goldfish

We believe it may have something to do with that moment later on.

I definitely think it was a good change to have it be Keyleth instead. It's a better first death for her and will make Vex's death in the tomb next season more impactful.

Nice !!!!!!!!! Hope everyone that is reading this has a sweet sweet sweet Living !!!!!!!!!!!

I think not calling him Vekna is because his name is a DnD property so they lose the ability to use his real name which is why we have dawn father and ever light instead of their godly names.

"Evil lich" seems redundant... were there liches that were good?

I am not complaining, everytime i can see Keyleth suffer it is a good time ^^