One member of The Mighty Nein that we’ve barely seen in the Prime Video animated series so far is the highly anticipated hulking goth barbarian Yasha Nydoorin, played by Ashley Johnson. Because of various external work responsibilities, Ashley Johnson couldn’t always be at the table in Critical Role Campaign 2 as often as the other player characters. But now, The Mighty Nein series can dive back into the story of Campaign 2 and shape it a bit differently. Yasha’s introduction into the story of The Mighty Nein in the animated series is already seeing some changes from that of the campaign. Here’s what we saw of Yasha in The Mighty Nein episode six, “Many Gifts.”
Yasha still hasn’t quite caught up to the main crew as they leave Zadash at the end of the episode, but she is hot on their heels. And a collision course between Yasha and the group seems certain in the coming episodes. But, for now, we see Yasha solo in her first major appearance in The Mighty Nein. In this episode, Yasha appears at an outpost of the Dwendalian Empire, her reputation as “The Orphanmaker” preceding her, as does a pack of vultures, marking the death on her hands. Yasha immediately attacks the outpost and makes quick work of its leader and all the soldiers inside. She doesn’t even spare a horse. The only person she hesitates for is a young woman who begs not to die.
As Yasha watches her in The Mighty Nein episode six, a vision clouds her eyes, and she seems to recall a memory of the past. A woman appears before her with red hair in a field of blue flowers. Yasha seems to love this vision woman very much, and softens as she smiles at her. But a mysterious, shadowy figure appears to murmur not-so-sweet nothings in Yasha’s ear: “I thought you wanted to forget these feelings, Yasha. Be done with her and find my prize.” This triggers a sigil on Yasha’s neck, which begins to glow. For a minute, it feels like Yasha might spare the woman’s life. But instead, Yasha asks her where Mages and the Cerberus Assembly are and then violently CRUSHES her skull after the woman points her to Zadash. It seems this sigil has commanded Yasha to violence.
There are a lot of hints of Yasha’s campaign story in her first appearance in The Mighty Nein episode six. In Yasha’s vision, we see her true love, Zuala. We can tell from this sequence that it’s a tragic love story, to be sure. Additionally, we get the sense that Yasha is being mind-controlled by something or someone. This story of Yasha’s mind-control in The Mighty Nein animated series comes much earlier than it does in Critical Role Campaign 2, marking a change in Yasha’s story.
In the campaign, Yasha’s mind-control arc happens about halfway through the story, beginning in episode 69, “The King’s Cage.” It will be interesting to see how The Mighty Nein remixes the tale into other, earlier aspects of the story. Of course, we also get to see more of Yasha in action in The Mighty Nein, her full murderous barbarian mode activated. It’s clear we’ll also get to see her friendship with Mollymauk Tealeaf develop from the very start, rather than their friendship predating the campaign.
The Mighty Nein animated series naturally makes many changes to different stories, and Yasha’s clearly is one that has the most potential to be reimagined and reordered. But so far, we’ve loved everything that’s come our way in the show and can’t wait to see what happens next.
The Mighty Nein is now streaming on Prime Video. New episodes release on Wednesdays. We can’t wait to see what devastation The Mighty Nein has in store for us next.