Funny story about the title Percy awarded Vex (Baroness of the 3rd House, Grand Mistress of the Gray Hunt), it actually comes with some property in Whitestone... specifically, the house that Scanlan burned down back in Season 1.
@@InkyPetrel In the game the Briarwoods had another henchwoman, an orc with a bow I believe. Maybe it was her manor in the live game but since she was adapted out, perhaps the Briarwoods left a house empty.
@@Graelcase No, it was specifically the house Vedmire had, as Percy told them the house was the one Scanlan burnt down. Anders had the title and the crypt, but Vedmire lived in the corresponding house.
Of all the reactors that have not watched the original campaign streams, you are by far the best I’ve seen at understanding the characters, motivations and relationships based on this show alone. It’s a delight watching how much you love these characters. Thanks for giving me someone to rewatch the show with ahead of the new season!
If you haven't seen AstroReacts, his reaction to TLOVM is amazing as well! He and Kyra are probably the most perceptive when it comes to certain scenes & dynamics between these characters, without having seen the original campaign.
Bit of trivia - the "little floof" that gets eaten in the opening is based on the pet bird that Matt and Marisha had. Shortly after this episode was made, their bird died. 😢 Matt had forgotten that that scene was in there, and when they watched it on the live watchalong, he got hysterical. Garmelie is voiced by Billy Boyd. He and Dominick Monaghan (who voiced Archibald Desnay, Percy's friend from last season) were in Lord of the Rings, as Merry and Pippin. And Grandpa Wilhelm is voiced by Henry Winkler. Percy's "Lady Vex'ahlia" speech to their father was taken straight from the campaign. It was actually during a live show in front of an audience, one of their first. However their father in the campaign wasn't quite as bad as he is here. Vex's line about pulling his blood from her veins was also from the campaign, but she actually said it directly to her father. And when Vex asks "Why did he take us away from her", she's talking about their mother. They grew up with their human mother in a small town. When their father found out about them, he brought them to live with him. That didn't last long, due to the extreme racism of him and the elves in general, and they ran away (as we saw in episode 3). They tried to go back home, but when they got back, the town had been burned (you can see them standing in front of a burning house in the opening title). It was a dragon attack, which is why she is so fascinated by dragons, to the point where she can sense them. The song "Making My Way" is from one of the memes in the campaign. The original reference was from a one shot DMed by Liam O'Brian (Vax). When he said they were "making their way" somewhere, Travis Willingham (Grog) starting singing a parody of the Vanessa Carlton song "A Thousand Miles", but about what they were doing, with Ashley Johnson (Pike) joining in. Over time, it got shorter and shorter until now they just say "makimyway" in a singsong voice as all one word. It might be helpful to understand the way death works in the game. Once you lose all your health, you are unconscious and start making death saving throws. You have to roll at or above a base score (starting at 10). If you roll 3 successes, you stabilize. If you roll 3 failures, that's dead-dead. At any point before that, you can be healed to be restored. But once you've had 3 failures, you can only be brought back with resurrection spells. There are different levels. The easiest and cheapest is Revivify, but it is the most limited. You have to cast it within a minute of death. Normally, if you can cast the spell, they're just restored. However, Matt has added challenges. 3 characters can contribute to the ritual (including NPCs played by Matt, if it's appropriate). The contributions are different skill checks. For example, Scanlan might contribute a song, making a performance check. Keyleth might grow their favorite flowers, making a nature check. The most common is making some kind of speech, with a persuasion check. Then there is a final roll that Matt makes. Similar to death saves, if he rolls at or above a given value, they are restored. If not, they die. The base is 10. Each success lowers it by 3, each failure raises it by 1. And with each death, the base score for both death saves and the resurrection increases by 1. So if Vex were to die again, and Vax and Percy were to succeed their contributions, but Keyleth failed, Matt would have to roll 6 or higher (10 + 1(for a previous death) + 1(Keyleth's failure) - 6 (Percy's and Vax's successes)).
So, a thing about Craven Edge and Silas that I kind of noted once I started digging into the mechanics of the two. Craven Edge has this whole mechanic where, once it’s been fed enough, it grows into a more dangerous form with extra death bonus damage, but after combat it’ll immediately get too big for its britches and try to swallow the soul of its wielder (forcing them to roll a Constitution save to not die). Silas, as a Vampire Lord, has Legendary Resistances. Consequently, three times per long rest he can just DECIDE TO SUCCEED on a save that he would otherwise have failed by die roll alone. So every time we saw Silas bust out the sword and work it to the point of growing, you should picture at the end of the fight Craven Edge going “LET ME SWALLOW YOUR SOUL” and Silas responding “No.
0:27 bath tubs in real life might suck, but in the Vox machina campaign…. They hold some of the most awesome moments. Hopefully they’ll have some of those moments in the show.
Please never stop being annoying about Percy and Vex, they are so excellent both as single characters and together. "They are definitely not worth you" absolutely deserves that reaction, it is (as you might have guessed) another banger Percy one-liner from the campaign. The speech that accompanies it is cut down but absolutely worth a watch because it's so good. It was also the moment after shipping them for months that a lot of us were like "oh my god it's happening????" Also, Percy titling Vex was definitely half about making Vex happy and half to piss off her father. Percy's love language with Vex is definitely gift giving and words of affirmation. So excited for you to finish this season and then onto season 3!! It's so close I can feel it.
Taliesin (Percy's player) said he wanted Percy to behave towards the Feywild like a Japanophile who visits Japan and discovers that it's really nothing like what they read about.
I feel like Percy titling Vex was kinda twofold. First, it's very much Percy opening Whitestone to her as a place she can belong on her own terms... but it's also disarming one of the major things feeding the sense of inferiority instilled in her by her father, who always considered the twins beneath him explicitly because their mother was not just a human, but a human commoner. Vex always kinda hooked on that idea of 'from nobility but excluded from it', and by just putting a title on her he's put her in a position to realize how much of the worth she has was there before the title was. She's become ennobled because she IS noble in character, not the other way around.
Another fun fact. Matt (the DM) explained in an interview that Vex ultimately had the choice in this moment @55:30 in the campaign to go with the arch-fey. If she did, she still would have obtained Fenthras. I always wondered how the story would have changed if she had gone that route.
Random trivia, during the spore/drug trip, Trinket is voiced by Cheech Marin, one of a famous stoner comedy duo from the 70's and I think 80's called Cheech & Chong. I grew up listening to an album of theirs my parents had back in the day.
If you have a moment listen to the song at the end. The song "Making My Way" during the Fey Realm episode is sung as a country song by Ashley Johnson (Pike) and Sam Reigel (Scanlan) during the show. Then at the end the same song is sung in a slow "Billie Eilish" kind of way by Laura Bailey (Vex). All versions are really good and "Making My Way" is a reference to a running joke from the stream. Teh fact that it references "Making My Way" blew my effing mind back when I first watched this episode.
@KyraTrie: "Vex is the team's Sharpshooter." Me: "Percy, literally, has a Sniper Rifle!" Also, yes, the Ruby in Thordak's chests is, in fact, The Soul Anchor. And, yes, they did have to deal with Pixies in the campaign and, yes, Garmelie is correct, you do NOT want to fuck with Pixies! They also had to persuade grass not to kill them. The Fey Wild was trip. And, yes, Percy is THE Lord of Whitestone. The only two Nobles of Whitestone, currently, are Percy and his sister, Cassandra, who is currently in charge of Whitestone as the Lady of Whitestone. In the Campaign, Percy giving Vex a title was, purely, Taliesin getting pissed off at Syldor and wanting to give him the biggest middle finger possible. He, literally, spent Vox Machina's entire conversation with Syldor running through all of the Noble Titles of the Houses of Whitestone that he had come up with for Percy's backstory to find one that was available that he could have Percy give Vex. So yeah, Taliesin came up with that in course of one conversation in the middle of a Live Session (yes this was also at a Live Show in front of a Live Audience) purely of out anger at and disdain for Syldor. I don't know if you noticed, but after Vex kills Saundor, the first thing she picks up is Percy's Arrowhead, THEN she picks up the Fenthras Bow.
When I see that scene, I always say, "Hi Dagon. bye Dagon." I love that Matt and Marisha forgot about him being in the episode, so when they saw it after he'd passed away, they laughed their asses off, because dark humor is the best.
16:10 The Traveling song "Making my way" is the culmination of a 8 year old running joke from the table top games. Anytime one of the players would say "I'm gonna make my way over to..." they would inevitably sing the first line of 1,000 Miles by Vanessa Carlson which is, of course, "Makin' my way downtown talkin fast and I'm homebound..." so this song is a tribute to that!!! And it's my favorite easter egg of all time!!!
Yes!! I was waiting for this reaction!! Your insights into these characters are amazing. I knew the Percy and Vex moments would make you happy. Please be annoying about them! (and I love the "Let me be annoying"!)
I am a little disappointed that they didn't keep Grog's explanation from the campaign about why he didn't want to give up Craven Edge. Essentially, he said that he wasn't afraid of dying. He would be fine with dying, as long as it was a glorious death. Dying fighting a dragon or a vampire. But he didn't want to die to Kevdak. So he felt he needed the strength Craven Edge granted, because they were going to face Kevdak. Also, about the intro cinematic hurting: They've released a new intro cinematic for season 3, and it hurts even more than the one they've been using. Prepare for emotional damage. Also also, the "Keyleth, you really need to learn your spells" line is because there were multiple times during the campaign that Marisha didn't fully read through a spell before casting it and didn't realize it worked differently to how she thought it did. Also also also, yes, they tangled with pixies in the campaign. Also also also also, in the campaign, Vex and Vax said to Velora, "You are not our half-sister. You are our sister." Unfortunately, this line was cut from the show.
If you haven’t definitely go back and listen to the credits to episode 7. It’s a reprise of Scanlan and Pike’s song sung by Laura Bailey and it’s beautiful. It’s from Vex’s perspective so I think you’ll appreciate the introspection from her there :3
I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I like to think of Percy as kind of this groups Batman analog. He's the rich broody orphan with no superpowers but lots of really neat toys. He tries to plan for every contingency, tries to know everything about everything, and will stop at nothing to keep his friends safe. ( I know its not an exact one-to- one parallel, but there's quite a bit of overlap I think.) That's my thought on Percy's real place on the team. Love your reactions to this, keep it up orcs and all !
This makes it especially hilarious that he’s such good friends with Keyleth, as she’s a bit of an anti-Batman in that she can pull off amazing things if forced to act on the spur of the moment, but tends to hit anxiety paralysis and lock up if asked to anticipate or plan for things, at least until she gets her doubts under control.
Love your reactions. So excited for you to finish season 2! There’s Vox Machina Hamilton musical (fan made) that I’d love to recommend to you & maybe even see you react to like you’re reacting to Epic!
wow i completely forgot about vox machina: an exandrian musical 😭 not the memories rushing back… i’d love to see her react to that! (though it would have spoilers for the rest of the campaign…)
i love how much you love perc’ahlia 😌 they’re my favorites and have been for years ❤ this is actually my first reaction of yours that i’ve watched but it was wonderful and i’m going to go back and watch the rest! excited to see your reactions to the new season as it comes out as well!
Percy was actually either tied with or slightly ahead of grog when it came to damage per round. Including reloading I believe he could get off four to five shots on certain turns. A caster can get off one spell and possibly a cantrip. Grog I believe got two very massive attacks, assuming that he's enraged to hit the thing. And Vax, when hasted, could throw three daggers.
And it only gets better from here on out girl, it's going to get so much more wild. I loved this adventure into the Fei realm with Percy, Vex, Vax, and Kelieth. They are all learning to fight as a team, as a unit, and they all do care about one another. I loved the half sister, she was adorable.
They did tangle with pixies in the campaign! It was a whole 3.5 hour episode, at one point someone was turned into stone and was still for 10 actual minutes pretending to be a statue. For many reasons they cut it, one of which being (mild spoiler) that in the show only half the party made it to the Fey! I love the way they compacted events by splitting the party for the show, makes the like 5.5ish 3-5 hour long episodes it took to cover the ground from these last two episodes (more or less, this season does a *lot* of tweaking of the order of events so Vox Machina aren’t tree porting all over the place every morning and can get more done in one visit)
56:01 The image of Keyleth grabbing Vax's dagger, even twirling it like he does, to cut herself and Vax's hand free, has been living rent-free in my head ever since. It's also perhaps an unintentional adaptation of how to showcase her skills from the campaign itself. Basically, Keyleth has 14 Strength and 15 Dexterity, plus proficiency in Athletics, which is used to break free of grapples. And of course, she's used daggers before to harvest from monsters, even using one of Vax's own blades at one point to do it! Even Vex using the arrowhead to sneak attack Saundor's heart is very much like a rogue, which she multiclassed into. And just so you know, she only faced Saundor alone in this show, whereas everyone was there to fight him on the stream. Also, Kiki's transformation into a fire elemental and teleporting between the tree monsters? Taken right out of the campaign itself.
Keyleth's teleporting is also great, because it TECHNICALLY shouldn't have been allowed, rules as written, but Matt thought the idea of Keyleth teleporting through one tree to another was AWESOME and said yes. Rule of cool is BEST!
I do agree that percy is trying to be a useful, partly out of just wanting to help protect the found family that helped him acchive his life long goal of avenging his dead family and liberating his city state, but also to try and make up for the times he was a jerk during that arc and for kind of getting vex killed. But I don't think it has to much to do with his combat effectiveness as you seemed to think here. Heres the thing, percy's weapons in the game was VERY POWERFUL! a tad inconstant at times if he rolled poorly but his player generally rolls well and he could hit very hard from a ways away. Between bad news, Retort ( the gun he is using now ), and Dipolomacy had a verity of options for putting up big numbers on various types of foes. The problem though is guns are ah...much more explosive than daggers or arrows or ethereal maces of light. It can be tricky to depict them in a show in a way where they are clearly doing work with out being severally lethal or debilitating to foes so I feel like his combat effectiveness ( especially this season ) against some things is kind of undersold compared to the others who's fantasy weapons are allowed to be seen doing more because you hit someone with a dagger they get a bit stabbed or a blast of divine light and they are a bit scuffed/burned vs hitting someone with a gun and the have a hole blown through them. not that the show shy's away from gore just if you have a guy who can reliably cripple or kill wit ha single shot it can make the fights trickier to make dramatic.
well...I can only react to the show since I don't know the campaign, so all my thoughts have to be on what the show presents me with. sorry, but I don't know the details or what was different in the campaign. :/
@@kyratries super valid, sorry if it seemed like I was being hostile! Truly your break downs are great and your takes are super valid based on how the show present things I was probably out of line in talking. I guess I was more tying talking about how often guns get nurfed in the animated media all the time xD firearms just solve to many combat problems if you treat them as powerful as they really are.
@@ryanbagley3293 Oh you didn't seem hostile and please never feel out of line talking to me! I'm sorry, I probably came off weird, I just...would hate to let people down because I don't know stuff about the campaign, and you seemed a little let down. I do like learning stuff about the campaign though, even if people are accidentally spoiling me sometimes! I just really don't know anything about the strength of the weapons so all I see is Percy misfiring half the time! (Which, if that is based on the general luck of his roles is really funny actually.) But the times that Percy DOES get a hit in during the show are AWESOME. Killing the giant in s1 with Bad News---I love his punny weapon names, he's so dorky but clever with them---was so cool that they had to cover it from 3 different angles, and blasting Anders' jaw off (I totally went back and watched that moment like 10 more times tbh), and when he got Diplomacy to work this episode AH I loved it! But I totally get your point about nerfing him in the show if he was regularly doing that much damage during the campaign and the general cinematography of guns. Please, no harm done! I always like learning more about Percy. ☺
@@kyratries (I wish more people could recognise that there are flaws in the show and its not just the people viewing who are understanding it "wrong"). Its not so much the weapons themselves. Percy held the spotlight last season and had a dozen cool battle moments to match, and so they have pushed him just a bit _too far_ into the background to leave him with zero notable gunslinger moments, giving the appearance of him being less powerful now. I have seen a few too many people say "Well maybe he shoulda kept the demon if hes this useless!" Even though aside from the abilities while *fully possessed* the demon really didint make him that much more powerful: Percys marksmanship skills are entirely his own, he just hasnt been allowed to show them off since this season. So while his role *in combat* as the awesome gunslinger is unchanged, all your other thoughts about his adjusted position as a person in the group, reworking relationships as he tires to renew trust, all of that youre spot on. We are all hoping he gets permission to be cool again soon!
@@hhylobates4098 okay I DID just upload my reaction to the finale and it should be up soon but Percy is pretty awesome in that final fight at least! Like some real moments of ‘okay well they’d be dead now if Percy hadn’t blasted a dragon in the face’ so that was gratifying. So I’m glad that he did get to shine a little there but very much hopeful for some awesome Anders-esque moments in s3 because that gives me chills every 10 thousand times I’ve gone back to watch those 15 seconds of Percy being amazing, no demon involved in pulling off that amount of badass calculation to precisely rip someone’s jaw off without killing them so he still has his moment of having Anders at his mercy, hot damn.
In the stream, Craven Edge actually killed Grog. Grog found out what happens when the sword is ever full. Once it's had its fill of blood, it begins to crave something else, SOULS!. After reviving him and lifting the curse it had on Grog, the team banished it to a pocket dimension that only Vox Machina knows about. That's right, it's still around! Waiting and festering. Garmelie is a walking pun. In ancient Greek theater, after the tragedy had its run, a second play making fun of the previous performance is done. They are called "Satyr plays." The concept survives to this day as "satire." So, in essence, Garmelie is a satyr satirist! Fun (or not so fun) fact: The bird in the feywild that was eaten by the plants? It was modeled after Matt Mercer And Marisha Ray's pet bird Dagon! The bird unfortunately died before the episode released and they both forgot they put that sequence in the show! Also, the thing about the Third House of Whitestone? Yeah, Scanlan burned it down...
Another amazing video, with great insights for not having seen the campaign. And yes ma'am, there was a battle with pixies that was on the scarier side. On that note, IF you have time, would you be interested in reacting to videos comparing "Table to Screen"? If that's not in the cards, perfectly fine, just wanted to ask
Oh please do leave recommendations, I love recommendations! I'd definitely be interested in watching them on my own, but if anyone would be interested in my reaction, I can do that too!
@@kyratriesi’d love to see your reactions to the table to screen videos! maybe we can recommend some highlights from the campaign too :) it’s harder to find reactions to stuff from campaign which is understandable but i think the comparisons and highlights are still well worth it without watching the entire stream and i love watching people experience them for the first time ❤
Fair warning, I suspect I will ramble for these episodes because they have SO much great stuff in them and I love them a lot. As always, skip if you're tired or just don't feel like it. The short version is probably going to be some thing like "Yay nerd Percy!" "Vex deserves anything she wants" "Awwww, Pike and Grog and Scanlan bonding" "Awwww, families!" "Boooo, families!" "Get wrecked Saundor" "Yay new toy!" "ooooh mysterious stranger?" :D Nerd!Percy is the BEST Percy. He's such a goober and I love that disaster so much. The thing is, he's DOES know facts about the Fae Realm, this was his whole, like, special interest thing pre-trauma. He was a lil nerd hanging out in the library learning about fairies and elves and magical plants, so it's kind of adorable that he's like "OH! I can HELP!" when they get there. Like, finally this is something he feels like he can do without, y'know, needing to draw on darkness or trauma. A tiny glimpse of the Percy that might have been. He's just... never used it in practice. So like, knowing things and being able to navigate them in context are two different skillsets 🤣 Very much "anime fan visits Japan and thinks they know everything" as others have mentioned. This pair of episodes does SO much heavy lifting for the story, the worldbuilding, AND the character growth, I really enjoy them both. They perhaps aren't the most dramatic of the episodes this season, but I'm very fond of the way they add depth to the story here. Percy is ride-or-die for everyone in the lil Fae Realm group. Not that he isn't for the others, but moreso these three, I think. The song at the end of episode 7 is Laura Bailey (Vex) singing the Fae Realm version of the travelling song team biggie-smalls sang with Grog, if you wanted to listen to that later :) They DID tangle with pixies, and no, you don't want to. It was a chaotic mess 😆 Percy's gift of a title to Vex happened during their first live-on-stage game, with an audience of hundreds of cheering Critters. The audience went absolutely feral, it was a beautiful moment. You can see Taliesin working the wording of the title out on a bit of paper during the game. Back to the animation, I love that before the title drop, he makes sure Vex knows he ALREADY respects her more than any title, that he sees her exactly as she is, and she's more than enough. So when he makes her Lady Vex'ahlia, Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone, and Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt (a very real title and position in Whitestone, that comes with land and a grand manor, thankfully NOT the one that Scanlan burned down 😆 The Grey Hunt is a tradition in Whitestone that we haven't seen yet), it's meant as something she can show anyone who might need a superficial bit of frippery to see her inherent worth. She never has to worry she doesn't "look" like nobility again. I'm glad they had the conversation by the bookshelves first though, or it could have been interpreted as a misstep on Percy's part, like he was trying to "fix" her (compare and contrast with "Poor, /broken/ Vex'ahlia" a little later *shudder *) She could easily have believed he thought she NEEDED a title, like it somehow improved her. But the context of that little moment earlier makes it's clear that it's a massive FU to her father, and anyone else who can't see what's already obvious. (And yes, she and Vax will always have a home that belongs to them, in Whitestone. There are so many layers to Percy gifting her a literal piece of the land he's so connected to.) 44:12: Vax's tiny barely-there half-smile here when Vex stands up to their father brings me so much joy. It's SUPER blink-you-miss-it, but all animation is deliberate
PLEASE ALWAYS TALK TO ME I LOVE IT!!!! I'm really REALLY REAALLLLY trying and failing to not talk about Percy and Vex and Percy+Vex for the entire video, especially for these episodes. I relate to Percy so much tbh and I just want to chatter about him lol and Vex...well, I relate to Percy a lot, so yeah, VEX!!! I LOVE the way Percy accepts touch from others as a form of comfort (Grog and Vex mostly yeah it's so sweet) but is so...like when she doesn't reply right away when he touches her shoulder he draws his hand away so unsure even if he's trying to meet her where she meets him. But Percy offering his words to try to make her feel better and the gift giving!!! (also me smh I give people so many gifts) Giving her not only a title but a HOME and then the arrow she uses to stab that motherf....Saundor in the heart just...*chef's kiss* Saundor uses every single trick in the abusive partner playbook but then there's the double story of those who love her fighting their way to her and Vex snapping herself out of his trance/creepy control thing and SHE LOOKS BACK when they're screaming her name (Hello callback to when Percy heard Vox Machina/specifically Vex when possessed haha I'm normal about this) and then she uses the gift that Percy gave her---a practical gift that shows how much he both understands her and wants to enable her to keep herself safe because he knows Vex can take care of herself he just wants to make it EASIER---because she was never truly alone, not really and ugh. UGH. So of course I have no clue whether Vex will ever bother seeing her father again, but YES I love that she was able to admit that...he's that way but she's who she is too and maybe she's not ready to face him again, this man who SHOULD love her, should friggin ADORE her but never did and she can't help but want to prove that she's worth his love like idk I think he'd just be salty af even if they kill all the dragons because he'll never want to admit he was a terrible father to the most amazing set of twins across all the realms but I hope they do address that part of her again, to just get some closure on whether SHE ever gets closure or not, because maybe she never will and that's actually okay, sometimes we never get true closure on bad relationships, I just hope they do bring it up again. I'm so sorry I am babbling because I could scream for hours and I'm trying so hard not to do that in the actual video lol please never apologize for your lovely long comments ;;;;;
@@kyratries *nods along in agreement like a bobblehead * YES exactly! (and thank you for taking the time to read and reply to all of that, I appreciate it! I just want to yell about these goobers ALL the TIME. 😆 ) The thing I love about Percy's gifts for Vex, they are SO genuine. He's absolutely sincere when he says he thinks she's worth more than the people with money and titles. There's zero expectation there, he's not fishing to get a compliment back, or making a "move", it's a genuine respect for someone he admires. Whether or not he has romantic feelings towards her, he's clearly going to be there for her (and Vax) no matter what. Again with the contrasts in the episode, When Vex rejects Saundor he turns toxic on a dime, but Percy pulls his hand back as soon as it isn't clearly welcomed, and apologizes for "springing" the title on her, an acknowledgement that it was something she could choose to keep if she wished, but it's not a contract, or like, something she *owes * him. And the arrowhead feels like something he'd been working on for a while, just a useful thing that she would appreciate. I dunno, it's just so... soft? They're both SO defensive (for good reason), and watching these two deeply wary people gently set aside tiny pieces of those walls feels like the opposite of "toxic". A careful dance. I love them so muhuhuhuuuuuch🥲
@@InkyPetrel Percy really cares about what the group thinks of him, and it feels like especially the twins. He needs Vax to know he has his back, and he gives Vex validation, a title, and an arrowhead that, yeah, he’s obviously been working on, without any expectation of something in return. He just wants her safe and happy. He wants all of Vox Machina safe and happy. I’m…so emotional about Percy oh goshhhh he wants them safe and happy and wants to feel like they trust him, like he’s earned his place back even when they all stood there and were there for him when Orthax took over, are happy he’s still with them, don’t NEED him to prove himself but ‘cursed heir’ and all that, ugh, Perceval, you’re so bad for my health.
Ironically, Syldor’s coldness towards the twins mirrors perfectly Vex’s coldness towards Keyleth in season 1. Just like Vex couldn’t tolerate an outsider coming between her and her brother, Syldor has that same intolerance towards these children he seemingly pulled off the street now barging in on “his family.” (“those vines have thorns”). This is where she got it from.
sorry...RUclips already dings me for copyright when it recognizes the instrumental soundtrack but they still let me publish the video, but it's really hard to push through songs with actual lyrics without getting a copyright strike. :/ I do listen to them though! I just have to cut that out of the final video.
I would happily watch you wax annoyingly about Vex and Percy for hours. I think that, even before the demon, Percy felt guilty about surviving when, as far as he knew, his entire family had been murdererd. So, if I had to guess, that would be when he lost his pure heart. But I think someone (probably Vex) would say that a broken heart can be mended and become stronger. I'm glad you caught that moment when he reached out to touch Vex. I think that Percy's family, being nobles, were probably not big on physical affection. You can see in the Professor Anders flashback, that the children are very formal in the presence of their parents. So, even though she doesn't really respond, I think it's a big thing that he tries to comfort and ground her in the way she does so often to him. Fortunately, he does have other ways -- giving her stuff is something she always responds to. Vex loves stuff. And yes, her title does come with a house. Unfortunately, it was one of the houses that Vox Machina burned down when they freed Whitestone. But it can be rebuilt, and then Vex will always have a home there. One more thing about these episodes. I identify so strongly with Grog when he loses this strength. I've had some serious health problems, and there was a time when I could barely walk without falling over. I'm better now, and it doesn't make me sad to watch him struggle. I just think, "Grog, I know what you're going through."
In the presence of their teacher they were a bit formal, but in the very first flashback in episode 3 Percy is leaning against his mother as she sits reading, and his father is laughing with an arm around Cassandra and Julius. I think he did once know love and physical affection, but hes just long forgotten it and is taking things carefully.
Elves, am I right? 1:08:54 Well what's a TTRPG without some light racism. I think I recall hearing that the new version of the handbook is working to erase that from the lore.
6:26 I think Percy read wrong things about these vines and Vax was only attacked because of the vestige and not his negativity. 30:38 yes 34:31 This place reminds me of "Ionia" on the Runterra world from the "Arcane" show aka "League of Legends" universe. Are you familiar with the show "Arcane" btw? 43:58 I think in the camping the father actually accepted her new title but I might have remembered wrong.
Matt was basically thrown by both Percy doing it and the reaction of the live audience. I think he might have had a similar reaction as in the show if they had been in the studio instead of on a stage with a ton of rabid Critters cheering Percy on.
In the game there was actual grass that both changed colour and grabbed at them when insulted, so Percy is probably correct but it was also extra aggressive to Vax because of the vestige. And yes their father is noticeably less terrible in the original, he immediately said "My apologies, Lady Vex'ahlia" smiled and rewrote the papers. Its simpler to make their relationship worse.
ngl, considering how much you love vex (as you should, she's my absolute favorite character), you should 100% watch the feywild arc of the original campaign. like these episodes are fine, good even, but they don't hit even remotely as hard as the original. the perc'ahla parts especially--if you think you got emotional about them here, you'd lose your mind at the versions from the original campaign
I agree, but that's a sizeable time committment. I think it's four episodes long? I'm going to try and pick out a few time codes and post them in the finale reaction.
There is a great critical role book called Vox Machina: Kith & Kin. It is a deep dive into Vex and Vax as children and their upbringing. I highly recommend the audio book version. It’s voiced by the cast.
47:30 you mentioning that as a “grounding thing” reminded me a lot of Cloud and Tifa in FF7 Remake and Rebirth. They (Cloud especially) will often stick close to each other or grab each other in tense and dangerous situations it’s pretty constant. Percy putting his shoulder on Vex in that scene is reminiscent of a scene in Rebirth albeit the context is very different the intent is still mostly the same. *Spoilers for those who haven’t reached Chapter 11 of Rebirth or haven’t had a chance to play the game yet* Tifa starts to have a panic attack and is hyperventilating, and it’s only when Cloud puts his hand on her shoulder, gently squeezes, and says her name does her breathing start to calm down again and he only lets go when she meets his eyes again and assures him that she’s ok. It’s one of my favorite scenes honestly. Tl:dr a lot of yapping
Mild spoilers. - - 1:01:27 The Garmelie reveal at the end was that he is in fact another Archfey, probably a more powerful one at that. In the original campaign he revealed this to the party at this point, just before they left the Feywild. He shows up again later in the Vox Machina story (and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the animated show), but he’s a much more significant player in Critical Role’s 2nd campaign, so this was a particularly big reveal for those who were following Critical Role’s active-a-the-time Campaign 2 but had not watched Campaign 1.
@@lipsum42 I think even if you know nothing of the campaign, it’s made pretty obvious here that Garmelie is something more powerful than he was letting on. I suppose “he shows up again” is technically a spoiler. I think that anyone who watches The Legend of Vox Machina is going to recognize him when he turns up in the animated Mighty Nein, and his connection between the two campaigns is more a neat easter egg than a massive plot point.
It's not that easy to destroy a sentient sword. As you can see, it can try to take control. The only way he was able to do that was because he was using the extra strength the sword gave him. It probably did talk to Sylas, but since he has (or rather, had) much more willpower than Grog, he probably shouted, "Shut up, bitch!" and the sword remained quiet. The bit about Keyleth learning her spells is an inside joke from the campaign. She made some dumb mistakes, leading many of us to shout at the screen, "READ YOUR SPELLS, MARISHA!" "Makin' My Way" is also an inside joke. They have a habit of quickly singing the beginning of "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton whenever someone (especially Mercer) says a variation on "You make your way to..." Yes, they tangoed with Pixies in the campaign, and IIRC, it was a bitch of a time! I hope you realize how cool it is that Willhand was voiced by Henry "The Fonz" Winkler!! You may also have noticed Pippin as Garmelie and Cheech as Trinket. The moment when Percy granted Vex a title happened in front of a live audience during the campaign, and it garnered a standing ovation! You basically guessed Vex' (and Vax') relationship with her father -- he's a racist prick. I believe the name of the book that goes into detail about it is called "Kith and Kin". Buckle in for the rest of the season!
Kith & Kin is GREAT. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. You don't have to have finished either the campaign or the show, obviously, to read it. There are no spoilers. It's just more fun with the twins we all know and love. Also, the audiobook on Audible has Laura and Liam playing Vex and Vax, and Robbie Daymond, another AMAZING VA, as the narrator. It's a great read.
Your shipping of Percy and Vex is very reasonable, sure those two didn't confessed their love to each other this season. But something tells me it might happen on Season 3, I mean we did see Vax and Kiki kissed in the trailer. Not to mention that your reaction when Percy gave Vex a noble title is pretty much on point with the audience in Critical Role's first live audience stream.
The thing I really hate about D&D is that Reviving a Dead Player is rather easy... it feels like Dragon Ball Z in that regard ^^* In the game, Grog did not survive the breaking of the Sword, but instead of having a meaningless death and revival, they choose this way, which I am completly agree with :)
I am making an exception for giving her pretty things that allow her to kill evil tree creeps because it shows he has faith in Vex protecting herself but also his desire to make her protecting herself a little easier with pretty and deadly things. (or aka, Percy not trying to impress her doing things he's not good at---looking out for traps---and just genuinely trying to make her happy with things he is good at---being a sassy little noble boy towards her dad and making deadly things to kill evil tree creeps with.) My...my thinking makes some sort of sense, maybe...
To be fair, as someone who plays dnd, touching things you shouldn’t that have deadly traps happen more often then you think. You get excited, or fail a perception/investigation check and do it anyway, it happens, so I wouldn’t be to harsh on Percy as someone who once opened a door that was trapped and nearly killed my own character.
@@meaganpower4175 Know that feel. My DM friend tapped me in to play a series of NPCs where my whole role for one of them was to not let them go into the evil house of death until they'd leveled up a bit and they listened to me warn them about how they would almost certainly die if they went inside, collectively decided I was trying to trick them, and all died within about 5 turns so...players be dumb. 🥲 (honestly my percy bias had me forgiven him the moment i saw his horrified face in the tomb but i'm trying to be UNBIASED and rational and...and sort of failing rip@me)
Percy is the Smart Guy of the Five Man Band. Vex is the Leader, Vax the Lancer (although they also swap back and forth on that), Pike and Keyleth are the Heart, and Grog (and Pike and Keyleth) the Strong Guy. I can't stand Percy. He encompasses all of the traits I hate most in myself and have worked to suppress - an annoying know-it-all of extreme privilege. Even in his good moments - granting Vex a title - are done out of arrogance. He left his sister to suffer the burden of leadership in Whitestone, but here he is exercising the benefits without the responsibilities. They say women look for their fathers, and Percy certainly is the closest to Syldor of Vox Machina, just without the racism. I find it endlessly ironic that Saundor is rightfully called out for his toxic "I can fix you" crap, but so many people have quite literally said they can "fix" Percy. They made Syldor so much worse here. In the campaign the twins had already proven themselves (Syldor had hired them to find Sir Fince). And not only did he tell them that their survival was more important than getting Fenthras, he did amend the document to include Vex's title.
Percys blunt assessment that he is currently unfit to be a leader is true though; he wasnt raised to be the heir, and then spent 5 years with nothing but vengeance as his goal. There was no plan to reclaim and restore Whitestone from the Briarwoods, he was going to kill them and likely die in the attempt, why bother thinking about what comes after. Cassandra has not been left alone, she is much more connected to the people than Percy and has the local leadership to rely on. "_Help me_ ensure Whitestone lives forever" Percy intended to return, but clearly needed to sort himself out first. And as circumstances of the changed, dealing with the dragons is now key to ensuring Whitestones survival. And the title wasnt arrogance, it gave Vex something she was seeking and she was truly appreciative of it.
I wouldn’t say he encompasses all of the traits you mention. He’s often deliberately silent explicitly because he doesn’t want to burden others. He knows a lot, but also admits when something is beyond him. He had privilege, yes, but lost it in a manner that left him irreversibly traumatized. Who he is characterized as being and who you feel him to be are not in alignment. What he is, most likely, is a convenient target for traits you want to project onto others because you dislike them in yourself. That speaks less to who he is, and more to your personal sense of self-loathing.
Taliesin Played Percy as "Anime fan finding himself in Japan"
...from personal experience, which makes it all the funnier
Funny story about the title Percy awarded Vex (Baroness of the 3rd House, Grand Mistress of the Gray Hunt), it actually comes with some property in Whitestone... specifically, the house that Scanlan burned down back in Season 1.
Huh, I thought it specifically wasn't that one, I've mixed them up, oops :)
@@InkyPetrel In the game the Briarwoods had another henchwoman, an orc with a bow I believe. Maybe it was her manor in the live game but since she was adapted out, perhaps the Briarwoods left a house empty.
@@Graelcase No, it was specifically the house Vedmire had, as Percy told them the house was the one Scanlan burnt down. Anders had the title and the crypt, but Vedmire lived in the corresponding house.
Percy’s Gauntlet is called Diplomacy.
"... because diplomacy always ends with a handshake."
His inventions have the best names. Like his rifle, "Bad News" in reference to the saying: "Bad news travels far and fast"
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Manners in Season 3 or 4
he. has. such. cool. NAMES. it's like 'okay well MY name is a nightmare so my WEAPONS will be AWESOME!' ugh I love it
I can't believe I forgot about his current pistol's name: "Retort". That's a personal favorite of mine
A little thing to notice: after killing Sondor, Vex picked up the arrowhead *first,* before the Vestige.
Half of Percy's flirty lines to Vex came directly from the game as said by Taliesin off the cuff.
"Oooh, standing up for herself" Actually it was only when her father insulted Percy that Vex stood up to him.
Of all the reactors that have not watched the original campaign streams, you are by far the best I’ve seen at understanding the characters, motivations and relationships based on this show
alone. It’s a delight watching how much you love these characters. Thanks for giving me someone to rewatch the show with ahead of the new season!
100% this.
If you haven't seen AstroReacts, his reaction to TLOVM is amazing as well! He and Kyra are probably the most perceptive when it comes to certain scenes & dynamics between these characters, without having seen the original campaign.
@@beccazach Funnylilgalreacts is damn good with this series as well 😉
thank you so much! ;;
and thanks for watching along with me
@@bryanmacklem2654 her too!
Bit of trivia - the "little floof" that gets eaten in the opening is based on the pet bird that Matt and Marisha had. Shortly after this episode was made, their bird died. 😢 Matt had forgotten that that scene was in there, and when they watched it on the live watchalong, he got hysterical.
Garmelie is voiced by Billy Boyd. He and Dominick Monaghan (who voiced Archibald Desnay, Percy's friend from last season) were in Lord of the Rings, as Merry and Pippin. And Grandpa Wilhelm is voiced by Henry Winkler.
Percy's "Lady Vex'ahlia" speech to their father was taken straight from the campaign. It was actually during a live show in front of an audience, one of their first. However their father in the campaign wasn't quite as bad as he is here. Vex's line about pulling his blood from her veins was also from the campaign, but she actually said it directly to her father.
And when Vex asks "Why did he take us away from her", she's talking about their mother. They grew up with their human mother in a small town. When their father found out about them, he brought them to live with him. That didn't last long, due to the extreme racism of him and the elves in general, and they ran away (as we saw in episode 3). They tried to go back home, but when they got back, the town had been burned (you can see them standing in front of a burning house in the opening title). It was a dragon attack, which is why she is so fascinated by dragons, to the point where she can sense them.
The song "Making My Way" is from one of the memes in the campaign. The original reference was from a one shot DMed by Liam O'Brian (Vax). When he said they were "making their way" somewhere, Travis Willingham (Grog) starting singing a parody of the Vanessa Carlton song "A Thousand Miles", but about what they were doing, with Ashley Johnson (Pike) joining in. Over time, it got shorter and shorter until now they just say "makimyway" in a singsong voice as all one word.
It might be helpful to understand the way death works in the game. Once you lose all your health, you are unconscious and start making death saving throws. You have to roll at or above a base score (starting at 10). If you roll 3 successes, you stabilize. If you roll 3 failures, that's dead-dead. At any point before that, you can be healed to be restored. But once you've had 3 failures, you can only be brought back with resurrection spells. There are different levels. The easiest and cheapest is Revivify, but it is the most limited. You have to cast it within a minute of death.
Normally, if you can cast the spell, they're just restored. However, Matt has added challenges. 3 characters can contribute to the ritual (including NPCs played by Matt, if it's appropriate). The contributions are different skill checks. For example, Scanlan might contribute a song, making a performance check. Keyleth might grow their favorite flowers, making a nature check. The most common is making some kind of speech, with a persuasion check. Then there is a final roll that Matt makes. Similar to death saves, if he rolls at or above a given value, they are restored. If not, they die. The base is 10. Each success lowers it by 3, each failure raises it by 1. And with each death, the base score for both death saves and the resurrection increases by 1. So if Vex were to die again, and Vax and Percy were to succeed their contributions, but Keyleth failed, Matt would have to roll 6 or higher (10 + 1(for a previous death) + 1(Keyleth's failure) - 6 (Percy's and Vax's successes)).
You did a great job of giving her backstory and context without spoilers.
49:10
In the campaign Percy would make Vex grappling arrows, exploding arrows and a seat with stirrups for her broom.
So, a thing about Craven Edge and Silas that I kind of noted once I started digging into the mechanics of the two.
Craven Edge has this whole mechanic where, once it’s been fed enough, it grows into a more dangerous form with extra death bonus damage, but after combat it’ll immediately get too big for its britches and try to swallow the soul of its wielder (forcing them to roll a Constitution save to not die).
Silas, as a Vampire Lord, has Legendary Resistances. Consequently, three times per long rest he can just DECIDE TO SUCCEED on a save that he would otherwise have failed by die roll alone.
So every time we saw Silas bust out the sword and work it to the point of growing, you should picture at the end of the fight Craven Edge going “LET ME SWALLOW YOUR SOUL” and Silas responding “No.
0:27 bath tubs in real life might suck, but in the Vox machina campaign…. They hold some of the most awesome moments. Hopefully they’ll have some of those moments in the show.
...admittedly intrigued.
@@kyratries See how long you can hold your breath.
Please never stop being annoying about Percy and Vex, they are so excellent both as single characters and together. "They are definitely not worth you" absolutely deserves that reaction, it is (as you might have guessed) another banger Percy one-liner from the campaign. The speech that accompanies it is cut down but absolutely worth a watch because it's so good. It was also the moment after shipping them for months that a lot of us were like "oh my god it's happening????"
Also, Percy titling Vex was definitely half about making Vex happy and half to piss off her father. Percy's love language with Vex is definitely gift giving and words of affirmation.
So excited for you to finish this season and then onto season 3!! It's so close I can feel it.
Taliesin (Percy's player) said he wanted Percy to behave towards the Feywild like a Japanophile who visits Japan and discovers that it's really nothing like what they read about.
I like to think that down the road, Velora followed in her half-siblings' footsteps, rather than her father's.
I feel like Percy titling Vex was kinda twofold. First, it's very much Percy opening Whitestone to her as a place she can belong on her own terms... but it's also disarming one of the major things feeding the sense of inferiority instilled in her by her father, who always considered the twins beneath him explicitly because their mother was not just a human, but a human commoner. Vex always kinda hooked on that idea of 'from nobility but excluded from it', and by just putting a title on her he's put her in a position to realize how much of the worth she has was there before the title was. She's become ennobled because she IS noble in character, not the other way around.
Another fun fact. Matt (the DM) explained in an interview that Vex ultimately had the choice in this moment @55:30 in the campaign to go with the arch-fey. If she did, she still would have obtained Fenthras. I always wondered how the story would have changed if she had gone that route.
I was waiting to see Kyra's reaction to the Perc'ahlia moments in these episodes and they couldn't have been better.
yes, they tangled with Pixies in the campaign. it was... rough.
Petrifying.
Random trivia, during the spore/drug trip, Trinket is voiced by Cheech Marin, one of a famous stoner comedy duo from the 70's and I think 80's called Cheech & Chong. I grew up listening to an album of theirs my parents had back in the day.
If you have a moment listen to the song at the end. The song "Making My Way" during the Fey Realm episode is sung as a country song by Ashley Johnson (Pike) and Sam Reigel (Scanlan) during the show. Then at the end the same song is sung in a slow "Billie Eilish" kind of way by Laura Bailey (Vex). All versions are really good and "Making My Way" is a reference to a running joke from the stream. Teh fact that it references "Making My Way" blew my effing mind back when I first watched this episode.
Same here! I couldn’t believe they put a reference to that in this show XD
I love that you said "thank you" to the "nice melons" comment. 😂😂
I love the little postcards you make for the thumbnails, they're super cute
aw thank you ;;
"oh god she got noble'd" absolutely sent my sides into orbit.
@KyraTrie: "Vex is the team's Sharpshooter."
Me: "Percy, literally, has a Sniper Rifle!"
Also, yes, the Ruby in Thordak's chests is, in fact, The Soul Anchor.
And, yes, they did have to deal with Pixies in the campaign and, yes, Garmelie is correct, you do NOT want to fuck with Pixies! They also had to persuade grass not to kill them. The Fey Wild was trip.
And, yes, Percy is THE Lord of Whitestone. The only two Nobles of Whitestone, currently, are Percy and his sister, Cassandra, who is currently in charge of Whitestone as the Lady of Whitestone. In the Campaign, Percy giving Vex a title was, purely, Taliesin getting pissed off at Syldor and wanting to give him the biggest middle finger possible. He, literally, spent Vox Machina's entire conversation with Syldor running through all of the Noble Titles of the Houses of Whitestone that he had come up with for Percy's backstory to find one that was available that he could have Percy give Vex. So yeah, Taliesin came up with that in course of one conversation in the middle of a Live Session (yes this was also at a Live Show in front of a Live Audience) purely of out anger at and disdain for Syldor.
I don't know if you noticed, but after Vex kills Saundor, the first thing she picks up is Percy's Arrowhead, THEN she picks up the Fenthras Bow.
yea if you like percy and vex 2x8 is a nice one 8). Also if you notice after she kills mr. creep, she picks up percy's gift 1st before the bow.
"Let me be annoying!", I love it. 😂
The "little floof" that the plants ate was designed after Matt and Marisha's pet bird Dagon.
When I see that scene, I always say, "Hi Dagon. bye Dagon." I love that Matt and Marisha forgot about him being in the episode, so when they saw it after he'd passed away, they laughed their asses off, because dark humor is the best.
"GOD, I'm so gay for her." Literally, you and every other Critter out there.
Also worthy of note is that with Vex being given a noble title Percy wouldn't face any class-based stigma if they got married.
16:10 The Traveling song "Making my way" is the culmination of a 8 year old running joke from the table top games. Anytime one of the players would say "I'm gonna make my way over to..." they would inevitably sing the first line of 1,000 Miles by Vanessa Carlson which is, of course, "Makin' my way downtown talkin fast and I'm homebound..." so this song is a tribute to that!!! And it's my favorite easter egg of all time!!!
Yes!! I was waiting for this reaction!! Your insights into these characters are amazing. I knew the Percy and Vex moments would make you happy. Please be annoying about them! (and I love the "Let me be annoying"!)
Oh, don't give me permission...
I am a little disappointed that they didn't keep Grog's explanation from the campaign about why he didn't want to give up Craven Edge. Essentially, he said that he wasn't afraid of dying. He would be fine with dying, as long as it was a glorious death. Dying fighting a dragon or a vampire. But he didn't want to die to Kevdak. So he felt he needed the strength Craven Edge granted, because they were going to face Kevdak.
Also, about the intro cinematic hurting: They've released a new intro cinematic for season 3, and it hurts even more than the one they've been using. Prepare for emotional damage.
Also also, the "Keyleth, you really need to learn your spells" line is because there were multiple times during the campaign that Marisha didn't fully read through a spell before casting it and didn't realize it worked differently to how she thought it did.
Also also also, yes, they tangled with pixies in the campaign.
Also also also also, in the campaign, Vex and Vax said to Velora, "You are not our half-sister. You are our sister." Unfortunately, this line was cut from the show.
If you haven’t definitely go back and listen to the credits to episode 7. It’s a reprise of Scanlan and Pike’s song sung by Laura Bailey and it’s beautiful. It’s from Vex’s perspective so I think you’ll appreciate the introspection from her there :3
I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I like to think of Percy as kind of this groups Batman analog. He's the rich broody orphan with no superpowers but lots of really neat toys. He tries to plan for every contingency, tries to know everything about everything, and will stop at nothing to keep his friends safe. ( I know its not an exact one-to- one parallel, but there's quite a bit of overlap I think.) That's my thought on Percy's real place on the team. Love your reactions to this, keep it up orcs and all !
Gotham: "I'm Batman . . . " Exandria: "I'm Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III . . . "
the bad guys are halfway down the street by the time he finishes introducing himself
@@kyratries That's what the grappling hook is for.
This makes it especially hilarious that he’s such good friends with Keyleth, as she’s a bit of an anti-Batman in that she can pull off amazing things if forced to act on the spur of the moment, but tends to hit anxiety paralysis and lock up if asked to anticipate or plan for things, at least until she gets her doubts under control.
Love your reactions. So excited for you to finish season 2! There’s Vox Machina Hamilton musical (fan made) that I’d love to recommend to you & maybe even see you react to like you’re reacting to Epic!
wow i completely forgot about vox machina: an exandrian musical 😭 not the memories rushing back… i’d love to see her react to that! (though it would have spoilers for the rest of the campaign…)
The Briarwoods are the ones that tainted Percy’s heart.
This season just keeps hittiing with top tier episodes 😂
i love how much you love perc’ahlia 😌 they’re my favorites and have been for years ❤ this is actually my first reaction of yours that i’ve watched but it was wonderful and i’m going to go back and watch the rest! excited to see your reactions to the new season as it comes out as well!
Percy was actually either tied with or slightly ahead of grog when it came to damage per round. Including reloading I believe he could get off four to five shots on certain turns. A caster can get off one spell and possibly a cantrip. Grog I believe got two very massive attacks, assuming that he's enraged to hit the thing. And Vax, when hasted, could throw three daggers.
And it only gets better from here on out girl, it's going to get so much more wild. I loved this adventure into the Fei realm with Percy, Vex, Vax, and Kelieth. They are all learning to fight as a team, as a unit, and they all do care about one another. I loved the half sister, she was adorable.
I love how much you hate Ripley. I feel bad for laughing, but the way you have zero time for her machinations is hilarious.
Don't think anyone else has mentioned it, but Trinket's voice in during the tripping out scene was Cheech Marin, of Cheech and Chong fame
They did tangle with pixies in the campaign! It was a whole 3.5 hour episode, at one point someone was turned into stone and was still for 10 actual minutes pretending to be a statue. For many reasons they cut it, one of which being (mild spoiler) that in the show only half the party made it to the Fey! I love the way they compacted events by splitting the party for the show, makes the like 5.5ish 3-5 hour long episodes it took to cover the ground from these last two episodes (more or less, this season does a *lot* of tweaking of the order of events so Vox Machina aren’t tree porting all over the place every morning and can get more done in one visit)
56:01 The image of Keyleth grabbing Vax's dagger, even twirling it like he does, to cut herself and Vax's hand free, has been living rent-free in my head ever since. It's also perhaps an unintentional adaptation of how to showcase her skills from the campaign itself.
Basically, Keyleth has 14 Strength and 15 Dexterity, plus proficiency in Athletics, which is used to break free of grapples. And of course, she's used daggers before to harvest from monsters, even using one of Vax's own blades at one point to do it!
Even Vex using the arrowhead to sneak attack Saundor's heart is very much like a rogue, which she multiclassed into. And just so you know, she only faced Saundor alone in this show, whereas everyone was there to fight him on the stream.
Also, Kiki's transformation into a fire elemental and teleporting between the tree monsters? Taken right out of the campaign itself.
Keyleth's teleporting is also great, because it TECHNICALLY shouldn't have been allowed, rules as written, but Matt thought the idea of Keyleth teleporting through one tree to another was AWESOME and said yes. Rule of cool is BEST!
I do agree that percy is trying to be a useful, partly out of just wanting to help protect the found family that helped him acchive his life long goal of avenging his dead family and liberating his city state, but also to try and make up for the times he was a jerk during that arc and for kind of getting vex killed. But I don't think it has to much to do with his combat effectiveness as you seemed to think here.
Heres the thing, percy's weapons in the game was VERY POWERFUL! a tad inconstant at times if he rolled poorly but his player generally rolls well and he could hit very hard from a ways away. Between bad news, Retort ( the gun he is using now ), and Dipolomacy had a verity of options for putting up big numbers on various types of foes. The problem though is guns are ah...much more explosive than daggers or arrows or ethereal maces of light. It can be tricky to depict them in a show in a way where they are clearly doing work with out being severally lethal or debilitating to foes so I feel like his combat effectiveness ( especially this season ) against some things is kind of undersold compared to the others who's fantasy weapons are allowed to be seen doing more because you hit someone with a dagger they get a bit stabbed or a blast of divine light and they are a bit scuffed/burned vs hitting someone with a gun and the have a hole blown through them. not that the show shy's away from gore just if you have a guy who can reliably cripple or kill wit ha single shot it can make the fights trickier to make dramatic.
well...I can only react to the show since I don't know the campaign, so all my thoughts have to be on what the show presents me with. sorry, but I don't know the details or what was different in the campaign. :/
@@kyratries super valid, sorry if it seemed like I was being hostile! Truly your break downs are great and your takes are super valid based on how the show present things I was probably out of line in talking. I guess I was more tying talking about how often guns get nurfed in the animated media all the time xD firearms just solve to many combat problems if you treat them as powerful as they really are.
@@ryanbagley3293
Oh you didn't seem hostile and please never feel out of line talking to me! I'm sorry, I probably came off weird, I just...would hate to let people down because I don't know stuff about the campaign, and you seemed a little let down. I do like learning stuff about the campaign though, even if people are accidentally spoiling me sometimes!
I just really don't know anything about the strength of the weapons so all I see is Percy misfiring half the time! (Which, if that is based on the general luck of his roles is really funny actually.) But the times that Percy DOES get a hit in during the show are AWESOME. Killing the giant in s1 with Bad News---I love his punny weapon names, he's so dorky but clever with them---was so cool that they had to cover it from 3 different angles, and blasting Anders' jaw off (I totally went back and watched that moment like 10 more times tbh), and when he got Diplomacy to work this episode AH I loved it! But I totally get your point about nerfing him in the show if he was regularly doing that much damage during the campaign and the general cinematography of guns.
Please, no harm done! I always like learning more about Percy. ☺
@@kyratries (I wish more people could recognise that there are flaws in the show and its not just the people viewing who are understanding it "wrong").
Its not so much the weapons themselves. Percy held the spotlight last season and had a dozen cool battle moments to match, and so they have pushed him just a bit _too far_ into the background to leave him with zero notable gunslinger moments, giving the appearance of him being less powerful now. I have seen a few too many people say "Well maybe he shoulda kept the demon if hes this useless!" Even though aside from the abilities while *fully possessed* the demon really didint make him that much more powerful: Percys marksmanship skills are entirely his own, he just hasnt been allowed to show them off since this season.
So while his role *in combat* as the awesome gunslinger is unchanged, all your other thoughts about his adjusted position as a person in the group, reworking relationships as he tires to renew trust, all of that youre spot on. We are all hoping he gets permission to be cool again soon!
@@hhylobates4098 okay I DID just upload my reaction to the finale and it should be up soon but Percy is pretty awesome in that final fight at least! Like some real moments of ‘okay well they’d be dead now if Percy hadn’t blasted a dragon in the face’ so that was gratifying. So I’m glad that he did get to shine a little there but very much hopeful for some awesome Anders-esque moments in s3 because that gives me chills every 10 thousand times I’ve gone back to watch those 15 seconds of Percy being amazing, no demon involved in pulling off that amount of badass calculation to precisely rip someone’s jaw off without killing them so he still has his moment of having Anders at his mercy, hot damn.
In the stream, Craven Edge actually killed Grog. Grog found out what happens when the sword is ever full. Once it's had its fill of blood, it begins to crave something else, SOULS!. After reviving him and lifting the curse it had on Grog, the team banished it to a pocket dimension that only Vox Machina knows about. That's right, it's still around! Waiting and festering.
Garmelie is a walking pun. In ancient Greek theater, after the tragedy had its run, a second play making fun of the previous performance is done. They are called "Satyr plays." The concept survives to this day as "satire." So, in essence, Garmelie is a satyr satirist!
Fun (or not so fun) fact: The bird in the feywild that was eaten by the plants? It was modeled after Matt Mercer And Marisha Ray's pet bird Dagon! The bird unfortunately died before the episode released and they both forgot they put that sequence in the show!
Also, the thing about the Third House of Whitestone? Yeah, Scanlan burned it down...
Another amazing video, with great insights for not having seen the campaign. And yes ma'am, there was a battle with pixies that was on the scarier side. On that note, IF you have time, would you be interested in reacting to videos comparing "Table to Screen"? If that's not in the cards, perfectly fine, just wanted to ask
Oh please do leave recommendations, I love recommendations! I'd definitely be interested in watching them on my own, but if anyone would be interested in my reaction, I can do that too!
@@kyratriesi’d love to see your reactions to the table to screen videos! maybe we can recommend some highlights from the campaign too :) it’s harder to find reactions to stuff from campaign which is understandable but i think the comparisons and highlights are still well worth it without watching the entire stream and i love watching people experience them for the first time ❤
@@tyrannosaurusjesss I'll see what I can find! Probably after s3 so there's more to react to 😊
@@kyratries yes!! and that way you’ll also have some extra stuff to watch once you’ve caught up with the show 🙂↕️
"She just got nobled" was hilarious =)
the fey realm is the true Perc'ahlia shipper
The only thing that will topple that will be in the next season (no contex no spoilers) with the bathtub scene🤣
@andresfelipemanjarres7061 love the bath scene, but in order for that scene to happen we first require the "Courage" scene
Fair warning, I suspect I will ramble for these episodes because they have SO much great stuff in them and I love them a lot. As always, skip if you're tired or just don't feel like it. The short version is probably going to be some thing like "Yay nerd Percy!" "Vex deserves anything she wants" "Awwww, Pike and Grog and Scanlan bonding" "Awwww, families!" "Boooo, families!" "Get wrecked Saundor" "Yay new toy!" "ooooh mysterious stranger?" :D
Nerd!Percy is the BEST Percy. He's such a goober and I love that disaster so much.
The thing is, he's DOES know facts about the Fae Realm, this was his whole, like, special interest thing pre-trauma. He was a lil nerd hanging out in the library learning about fairies and elves and magical plants, so it's kind of adorable that he's like "OH! I can HELP!" when they get there. Like, finally this is something he feels like he can do without, y'know, needing to draw on darkness or trauma. A tiny glimpse of the Percy that might have been.
He's just... never used it in practice. So like, knowing things and being able to navigate them in context are two different skillsets 🤣 Very much "anime fan visits Japan and thinks they know everything" as others have mentioned.
This pair of episodes does SO much heavy lifting for the story, the worldbuilding, AND the character growth, I really enjoy them both. They perhaps aren't the most dramatic of the episodes this season, but I'm very fond of the way they add depth to the story here.
Percy is ride-or-die for everyone in the lil Fae Realm group. Not that he isn't for the others, but moreso these three, I think.
The song at the end of episode 7 is Laura Bailey (Vex) singing the Fae Realm version of the travelling song team biggie-smalls sang with Grog, if you wanted to listen to that later :)
They DID tangle with pixies, and no, you don't want to. It was a chaotic mess 😆
Percy's gift of a title to Vex happened during their first live-on-stage game, with an audience of hundreds of cheering Critters. The audience went absolutely feral, it was a beautiful moment. You can see Taliesin working the wording of the title out on a bit of paper during the game.
Back to the animation, I love that before the title drop, he makes sure Vex knows he ALREADY respects her more than any title, that he sees her exactly as she is, and she's more than enough. So when he makes her Lady Vex'ahlia, Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone, and Grand Mistress of the Grey Hunt (a very real title and position in Whitestone, that comes with land and a grand manor, thankfully NOT the one that Scanlan burned down 😆 The Grey Hunt is a tradition in Whitestone that we haven't seen yet), it's meant as something she can show anyone who might need a superficial bit of frippery to see her inherent worth. She never has to worry she doesn't "look" like nobility again.
I'm glad they had the conversation by the bookshelves first though, or it could have been interpreted as a misstep on Percy's part, like he was trying to "fix" her (compare and contrast with "Poor, /broken/ Vex'ahlia" a little later *shudder *) She could easily have believed he thought she NEEDED a title, like it somehow improved her. But the context of that little moment earlier makes it's clear that it's a massive FU to her father, and anyone else who can't see what's already obvious. (And yes, she and Vax will always have a home that belongs to them, in Whitestone. There are so many layers to Percy gifting her a literal piece of the land he's so connected to.)
44:12: Vax's tiny barely-there half-smile here when Vex stands up to their father brings me so much joy. It's SUPER blink-you-miss-it, but all animation is deliberate
PLEASE ALWAYS TALK TO ME I LOVE IT!!!!
I'm really REALLY REAALLLLY trying and failing to not talk about Percy and Vex and Percy+Vex for the entire video, especially for these episodes. I relate to Percy so much tbh and I just want to chatter about him lol and Vex...well, I relate to Percy a lot, so yeah, VEX!!! I LOVE the way Percy accepts touch from others as a form of comfort (Grog and Vex mostly yeah it's so sweet) but is so...like when she doesn't reply right away when he touches her shoulder he draws his hand away so unsure even if he's trying to meet her where she meets him. But Percy offering his words to try to make her feel better and the gift giving!!! (also me smh I give people so many gifts) Giving her not only a title but a HOME and then the arrow she uses to stab that motherf....Saundor in the heart just...*chef's kiss* Saundor uses every single trick in the abusive partner playbook but then there's the double story of those who love her fighting their way to her and Vex snapping herself out of his trance/creepy control thing and SHE LOOKS BACK when they're screaming her name (Hello callback to when Percy heard Vox Machina/specifically Vex when possessed haha I'm normal about this) and then she uses the gift that Percy gave her---a practical gift that shows how much he both understands her and wants to enable her to keep herself safe because he knows Vex can take care of herself he just wants to make it EASIER---because she was never truly alone, not really and ugh. UGH.
So of course I have no clue whether Vex will ever bother seeing her father again, but YES I love that she was able to admit that...he's that way but she's who she is too and maybe she's not ready to face him again, this man who SHOULD love her, should friggin ADORE her but never did and she can't help but want to prove that she's worth his love like idk I think he'd just be salty af even if they kill all the dragons because he'll never want to admit he was a terrible father to the most amazing set of twins across all the realms but I hope they do address that part of her again, to just get some closure on whether SHE ever gets closure or not, because maybe she never will and that's actually okay, sometimes we never get true closure on bad relationships, I just hope they do bring it up again. I'm so sorry I am babbling because I could scream for hours and I'm trying so hard not to do that in the actual video lol please never apologize for your lovely long comments ;;;;;
@@kyratries *nods along in agreement like a bobblehead * YES exactly! (and thank you for taking the time to read and reply to all of that, I appreciate it! I just want to yell about these goobers ALL the TIME. 😆 )
The thing I love about Percy's gifts for Vex, they are SO genuine. He's absolutely sincere when he says he thinks she's worth more than the people with money and titles. There's zero expectation there, he's not fishing to get a compliment back, or making a "move", it's a genuine respect for someone he admires. Whether or not he has romantic feelings towards her, he's clearly going to be there for her (and Vax) no matter what.
Again with the contrasts in the episode, When Vex rejects Saundor he turns toxic on a dime, but Percy pulls his hand back as soon as it isn't clearly welcomed, and apologizes for "springing" the title on her, an acknowledgement that it was something she could choose to keep if she wished, but it's not a contract, or like, something she *owes * him. And the arrowhead feels like something he'd been working on for a while, just a useful thing that she would appreciate.
I dunno, it's just so... soft? They're both SO defensive (for good reason), and watching these two deeply wary people gently set aside tiny pieces of those walls feels like the opposite of "toxic". A careful dance.
I love them so muhuhuhuuuuuch🥲
@@InkyPetrel Percy really cares about what the group thinks of him, and it feels like especially the twins. He needs Vax to know he has his back, and he gives Vex validation, a title, and an arrowhead that, yeah, he’s obviously been working on, without any expectation of something in return. He just wants her safe and happy. He wants all of Vox Machina safe and happy. I’m…so emotional about Percy oh goshhhh he wants them safe and happy and wants to feel like they trust him, like he’s earned his place back even when they all stood there and were there for him when Orthax took over, are happy he’s still with them, don’t NEED him to prove himself but ‘cursed heir’ and all that, ugh, Perceval, you’re so bad for my health.
“I’m so gay for [Vex]”
So say we all. ❤
The last time I was this early, Percy did not have a hole in his hand ❤
And on this day the Percc'alia shippers wer fed and they were fed well. Also we got to meet an Arch Fae. I wonder if he'll show up again...
Ironically, Syldor’s coldness towards the twins mirrors perfectly Vex’s coldness towards Keyleth in season 1. Just like Vex couldn’t tolerate an outsider coming between her and her brother, Syldor has that same intolerance towards these children he seemingly pulled off the street now barging in on “his family.” (“those vines have thorns”). This is where she got it from.
Saundor was such a Nice Guy.
I'm so early! Can't wait to see your reaction to these two episodes!
Need to rage intensifies... 😖
I'm sad you didn't do a reaction to ep7 ending song... Laura outdid herself with that rendition
sorry...RUclips already dings me for copyright when it recognizes the instrumental soundtrack but they still let me publish the video, but it's really hard to push through songs with actual lyrics without getting a copyright strike. :/
I do listen to them though! I just have to cut that out of the final video.
I would happily watch you wax annoyingly about Vex and Percy for hours. I think that, even before the demon, Percy felt guilty about surviving when, as far as he knew, his entire family had been murdererd. So, if I had to guess, that would be when he lost his pure heart. But I think someone (probably Vex) would say that a broken heart can be mended and become stronger.
I'm glad you caught that moment when he reached out to touch Vex. I think that Percy's family, being nobles, were probably not big on physical affection. You can see in the Professor Anders flashback, that the children are very formal in the presence of their parents. So, even though she doesn't really respond, I think it's a big thing that he tries to comfort and ground her in the way she does so often to him. Fortunately, he does have other ways -- giving her stuff is something she always responds to. Vex loves stuff.
And yes, her title does come with a house. Unfortunately, it was one of the houses that Vox Machina burned down when they freed Whitestone. But it can be rebuilt, and then Vex will always have a home there.
One more thing about these episodes. I identify so strongly with Grog when he loses this strength. I've had some serious health problems, and there was a time when I could barely walk without falling over. I'm better now, and it doesn't make me sad to watch him struggle. I just think, "Grog, I know what you're going through."
In the presence of their teacher they were a bit formal, but in the very first flashback in episode 3 Percy is leaning against his mother as she sits reading, and his father is laughing with an arm around Cassandra and Julius. I think he did once know love and physical affection, but hes just long forgotten it and is taking things carefully.
@@hhylobates4098 That is true, but I still think his upbringing often encourages a distance between himself and others.
I think you should take a look at the voice actors if you havent. You will like Vex even more
Elves, am I right? 1:08:54 Well what's a TTRPG without some light racism. I think I recall hearing that the new version of the handbook is working to erase that from the lore.
6:26 I think Percy read wrong things about these vines and Vax was only attacked because of the vestige and not his negativity.
30:38 yes
34:31 This place reminds me of "Ionia" on the Runterra world from the "Arcane" show aka "League of Legends" universe. Are you familiar with the show "Arcane" btw?
43:58 I think in the camping the father actually accepted her new title but I might have remembered wrong.
Matt was basically thrown by both Percy doing it and the reaction of the live audience. I think he might have had a similar reaction as in the show if they had been in the studio instead of on a stage with a ton of rabid Critters cheering Percy on.
In the game there was actual grass that both changed colour and grabbed at them when insulted, so Percy is probably correct but it was also extra aggressive to Vax because of the vestige.
And yes their father is noticeably less terrible in the original, he immediately said "My apologies, Lady Vex'ahlia" smiled and rewrote the papers. Its simpler to make their relationship worse.
So full nerd.
Star Trek convention in obscure costume full nerd.
ngl, considering how much you love vex (as you should, she's my absolute favorite character), you should 100% watch the feywild arc of the original campaign. like these episodes are fine, good even, but they don't hit even remotely as hard as the original. the perc'ahla parts especially--if you think you got emotional about them here, you'd lose your mind at the versions from the original campaign
I agree, but that's a sizeable time committment. I think it's four episodes long? I'm going to try and pick out a few time codes and post them in the finale reaction.
There is a great critical role book called Vox Machina: Kith & Kin. It is a deep dive into Vex and Vax as children and their upbringing. I highly recommend the audio book version. It’s voiced by the cast.
47:30 you mentioning that as a “grounding thing” reminded me a lot of Cloud and Tifa in FF7 Remake and Rebirth. They (Cloud especially) will often stick close to each other or grab each other in tense and dangerous situations it’s pretty constant. Percy putting his shoulder on Vex in that scene is reminiscent of a scene in Rebirth albeit the context is very different the intent is still mostly the same. *Spoilers for those who haven’t reached Chapter 11 of Rebirth or haven’t had a chance to play the game yet* Tifa starts to have a panic attack and is hyperventilating, and it’s only when Cloud puts his hand on her shoulder, gently squeezes, and says her name does her breathing start to calm down again and he only lets go when she meets his eyes again and assures him that she’s ok. It’s one of my favorite scenes honestly. Tl:dr a lot of yapping
Mild spoilers.
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1:01:27 The Garmelie reveal at the end was that he is in fact another Archfey, probably a more powerful one at that. In the original campaign he revealed this to the party at this point, just before they left the Feywild. He shows up again later in the Vox Machina story (and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the animated show), but he’s a much more significant player in Critical Role’s 2nd campaign, so this was a particularly big reveal for those who were following Critical Role’s active-a-the-time Campaign 2 but had not watched Campaign 1.
Spoilers, my dude
@@lipsum42 I think even if you know nothing of the campaign, it’s made pretty obvious here that Garmelie is something more powerful than he was letting on. I suppose “he shows up again” is technically a spoiler. I think that anyone who watches The Legend of Vox Machina is going to recognize him when he turns up in the animated Mighty Nein, and his connection between the two campaigns is more a neat easter egg than a massive plot point.
It's not that easy to destroy a sentient sword. As you can see, it can try to take control. The only way he was able to do that was because he was using the extra strength the sword gave him. It probably did talk to Sylas, but since he has (or rather, had) much more willpower than Grog, he probably shouted, "Shut up, bitch!" and the sword remained quiet.
The bit about Keyleth learning her spells is an inside joke from the campaign. She made some dumb mistakes, leading many of us to shout at the screen, "READ YOUR SPELLS, MARISHA!" "Makin' My Way" is also an inside joke. They have a habit of quickly singing the beginning of "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton whenever someone (especially Mercer) says a variation on "You make your way to..."
Yes, they tangoed with Pixies in the campaign, and IIRC, it was a bitch of a time!
I hope you realize how cool it is that Willhand was voiced by Henry "The Fonz" Winkler!! You may also have noticed Pippin as Garmelie and Cheech as Trinket.
The moment when Percy granted Vex a title happened in front of a live audience during the campaign, and it garnered a standing ovation!
You basically guessed Vex' (and Vax') relationship with her father -- he's a racist prick. I believe the name of the book that goes into detail about it is called "Kith and Kin".
Buckle in for the rest of the season!
Kith & Kin is GREAT. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it yet. You don't have to have finished either the campaign or the show, obviously, to read it. There are no spoilers. It's just more fun with the twins we all know and love. Also, the audiobook on Audible has Laura and Liam playing Vex and Vax, and Robbie Daymond, another AMAZING VA, as the narrator. It's a great read.
Craven Edge was asked about Sylas, the reply was "He fed me well." So seems they had functional relationship, Sylas does eat people after all...
Your shipping of Percy and Vex is very reasonable, sure those two didn't confessed their love to each other this season. But something tells me it might happen on Season 3, I mean we did see Vax and Kiki kissed in the trailer.
Not to mention that your reaction when Percy gave Vex a noble title is pretty much on point with the audience in Critical Role's first live audience stream.
The thing I really hate about D&D is that Reviving a Dead Player is rather easy... it feels like Dragon Ball Z in that regard ^^*
In the game, Grog did not survive the breaking of the Sword, but instead of having a meaningless death and revival, they choose this way, which I am completly agree with :)
Remember when Percy flirted with Vex and got her killed? Clearly you don't.
Well, memory loss can be an effect of the Fey Realm.
I am making an exception for giving her pretty things that allow her to kill evil tree creeps because it shows he has faith in Vex protecting herself but also his desire to make her protecting herself a little easier with pretty and deadly things. (or aka, Percy not trying to impress her doing things he's not good at---looking out for traps---and just genuinely trying to make her happy with things he is good at---being a sassy little noble boy towards her dad and making deadly things to kill evil tree creeps with.) My...my thinking makes some sort of sense, maybe...
To be fair, as someone who plays dnd, touching things you shouldn’t that have deadly traps happen more often then you think. You get excited, or fail a perception/investigation check and do it anyway, it happens, so I wouldn’t be to harsh on Percy as someone who once opened a door that was trapped and nearly killed my own character.
@@meaganpower4175 Know that feel. My DM friend tapped me in to play a series of NPCs where my whole role for one of them was to not let them go into the evil house of death until they'd leveled up a bit and they listened to me warn them about how they would almost certainly die if they went inside, collectively decided I was trying to trick them, and all died within about 5 turns so...players be dumb. 🥲
(honestly my percy bias had me forgiven him the moment i saw his horrified face in the tomb but i'm trying to be UNBIASED and rational and...and sort of failing rip@me)
@@kyratries Right? For as genius as players can be, we are also so dumb. And also same, I could never really be upset at my Percy-I love him to much.
Percy is the Smart Guy of the Five Man Band. Vex is the Leader, Vax the Lancer (although they also swap back and forth on that), Pike and Keyleth are the Heart, and Grog (and Pike and Keyleth) the Strong Guy.
I can't stand Percy. He encompasses all of the traits I hate most in myself and have worked to suppress - an annoying know-it-all of extreme privilege. Even in his good moments - granting Vex a title - are done out of arrogance. He left his sister to suffer the burden of leadership in Whitestone, but here he is exercising the benefits without the responsibilities. They say women look for their fathers, and Percy certainly is the closest to Syldor of Vox Machina, just without the racism.
I find it endlessly ironic that Saundor is rightfully called out for his toxic "I can fix you" crap, but so many people have quite literally said they can "fix" Percy.
They made Syldor so much worse here. In the campaign the twins had already proven themselves (Syldor had hired them to find Sir Fince). And not only did he tell them that their survival was more important than getting Fenthras, he did amend the document to include Vex's title.
yeaaaaahhh you might not want to watch my videos then because I love Percy to death and back so I'll probably annoy you. sorry.
Percys blunt assessment that he is currently unfit to be a leader is true though; he wasnt raised to be the heir, and then spent 5 years with nothing but vengeance as his goal. There was no plan to reclaim and restore Whitestone from the Briarwoods, he was going to kill them and likely die in the attempt, why bother thinking about what comes after.
Cassandra has not been left alone, she is much more connected to the people than Percy and has the local leadership to rely on. "_Help me_ ensure Whitestone lives forever" Percy intended to return, but clearly needed to sort himself out first. And as circumstances of the changed, dealing with the dragons is now key to ensuring Whitestones survival.
And the title wasnt arrogance, it gave Vex something she was seeking and she was truly appreciative of it.
I wouldn’t say he encompasses all of the traits you mention. He’s often deliberately silent explicitly because he doesn’t want to burden others. He knows a lot, but also admits when something is beyond him. He had privilege, yes, but lost it in a manner that left him irreversibly traumatized. Who he is characterized as being and who you feel him to be are not in alignment.
What he is, most likely, is a convenient target for traits you want to project onto others because you dislike them in yourself. That speaks less to who he is, and more to your personal sense of self-loathing.
16:45 - *cringes internally*