The Legend of Vox Machina’s fourth season is wrapping up, bringing with it many changes from Vox Machina’s original storyline during Critical Role’s first campaign. The new season of The Legend of Vox Machina is loosely based off of about 20 episodes of Critical Role, ranging from episodes 84 to 100. However, this season represents the biggest departure from the original Actual Play series to date, with a majorly reworked plot that serves to set up the fifth and final season of Vox Machina and better establish the final threat the intrepid heroes must face.
The Whispered One’s Cult Becomes the Recurring Enemy in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4
The biggest change in the new season of The Legend of Vox Machina is the introduction of The Whispered One’s cult as the recurring enemies of the season. Although Vox Machina eventually collided with the followers of The Whispered One (including a resurrected Delilah Briarwood), they didn’t appear until much later in Critical Role and served as a much more abrupt threat.
In The Legend of Vox Machina, the followers of the Whispered One play a much more active role in the campaign, attacking Vox Machina at several points and injuring or killing their loved ones. Keyleth’s father and Pike’s great-grandfather are both victims of the cult’s attacks, both of which are new casualties in Critical Role lore. Of course, The Legend of Vox Machina hasn’t been shy about killing off beloved side-characters that survived in the original campaign, which often raises the stakes and keeps longtime fans of the show guessing about what will happen next.
The likely reason why the Whispered One and his followers show up earlier than in the Actual Play is to better establish the threat the dark would-be god represents on the world of Exandria. To be blunt, The Whispered One (also known as Vecna) arrives much more abruptly in The Legend of Vox Machina, with the group discovering a second ziggurat under Marquet, which leads them into conflict with his followers. By establishing his cult as enemies first, Vox Machina have a more unifying threat during this part of their story, one that was missing during the Critical Role actual play.
Pike Becomes a Main Character in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4
In the original Actual Play, Taryon Darrington’s introduction and time with Vox Machina mostly served as a period in which various members of Vox Machina wrapped up the side quests they accumulated during the series. While many of those personal side quests are still addressed in The Legend of Vox Machina, they’re colored somewhat by the recurring threat of the cultists.
Although season four of The Legend of Vox Machina introduces Taryon Darrington as the newest member of Vox Machina, this season seems to focus mostly on Pike and her growing feelings of rage and resentment. Pike was more of a recurring character in Critical Role’s first campaign due to Ashley Johnson’s recurring Hollywood commitments as a cast member of Blindspot while Critical Role was going on. While Pike was present for large chunks of the series, her characterization and struggles with her faith are brand new to the series. One perk to the new characterization is that we don’t know how all these complicated feelings will pay off, although fans have some theories given the events of episode 9.
The Circumstances Behind Scanlan’s Departure Is Different in the Series
Another big change to the show is the Bard’s Lament, Scanlan’s crashout and subsequent departure from Vox Machina. In the original Critical Role series, Scanlan leaves Vox Machina due to what he feels is unfair treatment by the rest of the party in the aftermath of their battle with the Chroma Conclave. It directly leads to Taryon Darrington replacing Scanlan for a time in Vox Machina, and Scanlan seems reluctant to rejoin Vox Machina even when he discovers the growing threat of The Whispered One.
In The Legend of Vox Machina, the Bard’s Lament is reframed as Scanlan being heartbroken that his old friends have only tracked him down after a year away from the party to ask for his legendary sword Mythcleaver, which they believe is key to killing The Whispered One. It also ends on a much more conciliatory note, with Scanlan quickly realizing that his friends do care about him, even if they do act a bit selfishly at times. While the Bard’s Lament doesn’t have the same impact as it did in the original series, it’s likely for the best as Scanlan will likely need to return to Vox Machina much sooner than he did in Critical Role, especially as he may be the only one who could reach Pike in her critical state.
Laudna’s Appearance In the Whitestone
A big addition to the fourth season of The Legend of Vox Machina is an appearance by Laudna in the bowels of Whitestone. In the cartoon, Laudna appears as Vox Machina uncover the backstory of Delilah Briarwood and she eventually aids them in temporarily driving Delilah from Whitestone. Laudna’s backstory in the cartoon is largely the same as it was in Critical Role, although her presence in general is new to the story. Laudna is eventually introduced in Critical Role as a member of Bell’s Hells, the third main adventuring group and centerpiece of Critical Role’s third campaign. Laudna is notably the second Bell’s Hells character to appear in animated form, following a cameo appearance by Braius in the first season of The Mighty Nein.
The Confrontation With Delilah Briarwood in Vox Machina Is a Major Change From the Critical Role Campaign
Perhaps the biggest departure from Critical Role occurred in the ninth episode of the season when Vox Machina moves to confront Delilah Briarwood and her lieutenants outside of the cult’s secret headquarters. There, Vox Machina discovers a second sphere that connects Exandria to Thar Amphala, the plane where Vecna dwells. During the confrontation, Grog is tossed into the sphere and seemingly disintegrates, as he lacks a magic amulet needed to safely pass through into the other plane.
This serves as a major blow to Pike, who had already lost her grandfather, and she (having an amulet herself) passes through the portal in pursuit of the cultists. Grog didn’t die during this portion of Critical Role, although some are speculating that it will set up a “Search for Grog” mini-arc similar to the postscript of Critical Role’s first campaign, when Grog was whisked away to another dimension. It’s doubtful that Grog’s death will be a permanent one, although his eventual resurrection may be tied to the culmination of Pike’s character arc this season.
The makers of The Legend of Vox Machina have shown that they are unafraid to make big changes to Critical Role’s original storyline in pursuit of a good story. Although the changes made to Vox Machina Season 4 are significant, the show itself is inarguably still the tale of Vox Machina. It’s just served differently to the delight of both longtime Critical Role fans and newcomers to the fandom.