Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, and Liam O’Brien visit WIRED to answer 50 of the most googled questions about their animated series “The Legend of Vox Machina,” based on the first campaign of their wildly-popular and long-running D&D series ‘Critical Role.’
Season Three of The Legend of Vox Machina is now available to watch on Prime Video
Season Three of The Legend of Vox Machina is now available to watch on Prime Video
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00:00We're the cast of The Legend of Vox Machina, some of them.
00:03And we're here today to answer the most googled questions
00:06about our show.
00:07How did Vox Machina meet?
00:14There's a comic book about it at the top of the comic book.
00:17We met at birth.
00:18Right.
00:19Oh, that's right.
00:20We met in the canal.
00:21Yeah.
00:21And Grog and Pike met when the Herd of Storms
00:23first attacked Westruun.
00:25That's right.
00:26Where did they pick up Scanlan?
00:27Nobody cares.
00:29How did Vox Machina get their name?
00:33It's a replacement name.
00:35Because we were originally The Shits.
00:36Yes, you did.
00:37We were The Shits, which stands for
00:39super high intensity team.
00:41Yeah, obviously.
00:41But.
00:42We were like, oh, we're about to start streaming our game.
00:45Maybe we shouldn't be The Shits,
00:46so people take us seriously.
00:48And so we tried to come up with a name
00:49that made sense for our group,
00:51which was a bunch of voice actors.
00:53Where does Vox Machina take place?
00:56In the flat world of Exandria.
00:58Mostly on the continent of Tal'Dorei.
01:01Why is Vox Machina 18 plus?
01:03The characters don't wear clothes.
01:04Sometimes.
01:05Yeah.
01:06Maybe they don't wear clothes this season.
01:08And we never reference any adult situation.
01:10At all.
01:11There is family oriented mature material.
01:13How close is Vox Machina to Critical Role?
01:16That's open to interpretation.
01:18Well, I mean, I think the animated series
01:19is to the original series.
01:20Oh, jeez.
01:22Very close, with fun liberties taken
01:25to keep the audiences guessing
01:28who came with us to the campaign.
01:29Who is Ripley?
01:31Ripley is an incredibly intelligent engineering mind
01:36and became an employee of the Cerberus Assembly
01:39of Wildemount before becoming wrapped up
01:41in the machinations of the Briarwoods
01:45and the dissolution of Whitestone's previous ruling family.
01:49And is one responsible for torturing Percy
01:52and turning his hair white and has a lot of ambitions.
01:56Who is the big bad of Vox Machina?
01:59Oh.
01:59The baddest bitch around is Vex'ahlia.
02:02Okay.
02:03Not what the question was.
02:05The big bad of the animated series
02:07is Thordak and the Chroma Conclave.
02:09Who are the twins in Vox Machina?
02:12I thought you were gonna give me a bunch at this point.
02:14I got this.
02:14That's you.
02:15Uh-huh.
02:16And also me.
02:17Yeah.
02:18We share the exact same birthday.
02:19In real life.
02:20And on the first time we played the game at home,
02:22Laura said that she was going to be Vex
02:25and I was like, great, why don't we be twins?
02:27And then we have the same birthday,
02:28so it made perfect sense.
02:30Great.
02:31Who has the highest intelligence in Vox Machina?
02:33Nope.
02:34Are we talking about cast members?
02:36Point scores.
02:37Not wisdom.
02:38Cast members.
02:39In the traveling troupe called Vox Machina,
02:42probably Percy?
02:44Probably Percy.
02:45I think it's Percy.
02:45If you're going straight up like intelligence score
02:47on the character sheet.
02:48Yep.
02:49Are Percy and Vex together?
02:52What can we say?
02:53Are we allowed to say this?
02:54I mean, yeah.
02:55Yeah.
02:55Oh, they're together.
02:58How old is Vex?
02:59The world will never know.
03:00Who put this in here?
03:01Are you trying to get it down?
03:03Oh my god.
03:04No, when we started the game,
03:06the twins were 28.
03:09And Percy was 23?
03:10Listen, we're half-elves.
03:11He's human.
03:12It's different.
03:13Dang, the younger man.
03:14I love it.
03:15Haven't you ever seen Twilight?
03:17What race is Vex?
03:19She's a half-elf.
03:20You heard it.
03:21It was easy.
03:22Is Keyleth in love with Vex?
03:24Yes, she is.
03:25Everybody's a little.
03:26Wow.
03:27I'm Vex, he's Vex.
03:29Vex could totally get together with Keyleth.
03:31I'm down for that.
03:32Down the line, you don't know what happens.
03:33There are many ways that could come to fruition.
03:36What kind of bear is Trinket?
03:38One that I know the answer to.
03:40Don't help, don't help.
03:41Grizzly?
03:42No.
03:42How could any of us answer that question?
03:43He's a brown bear.
03:44Who kills Silas Briarwood?
03:47Me.
03:48It's not true.
03:49No.
03:50In the series, it's a combination
03:51of Pike and Keyleth, actually.
03:55On the original campaign,
03:55it was a reflection from there.
03:57But definitely, I'd say it's the Sun Tree in Keyleth
03:59gives the final blow that turns him to ash.
04:02A vampire should go.
04:04Yeah.
04:05Oh!
04:05That did have a little boomerang on it.
04:07That did, that did.
04:08I'm so sorry, are you okay?
04:09There's shoulder pads.
04:10Just a paper cutter.
04:11Good, good, just making sure.
04:11Is Silas a vampire?
04:15I think we should have Matt answer that one.
04:21Yeah, is Silas a vampire?
04:23Yes.
04:26What is Orthax?
04:29Answer it, Sam.
04:30Orthax is a smoke demon that has possessed
04:35Percival Fredrickstein von Musselclaw Swaski III
04:41and sort of bonds with his heart
04:43and turns it dark and evil.
04:46Eventually, he has to excise that demon.
04:48Now, who is Umbrasyl?
04:50I thought you said who is an employee.
04:52Umbrasyl is one of the Acroma Conclave,
04:58a collection of dragons who are dragging
05:00their asses all over the country.
05:03Dragon.
05:03Yeah.
05:04How did Umbrasyl heal himself?
05:06With Orthax.
05:08Dragons have healing potential, right?
05:10So if they sit for a second,
05:12they can heal some of the damage
05:13as long as they are in a resting state.
05:16I actually had a whole other problem
05:17and Umbrasyl cleared it right up.
05:19Wow, wow.
05:20How did Umbrasyl go invisible?
05:22He's super introverted and just disappears at parties.
05:25Yeah.
05:26No, certain dragons have different abilities.
05:29Being able to blend in and turn invisible
05:30to surroundings is one of his abilities.
05:31Matt, do you think that if he turned invisible,
05:34he could steal a shirt?
05:37Maybe.
05:40What happens to Grog Strongjaw?
05:42What happens to him?
05:44I think it's supposed to be read as, what happens?
05:47Yeah.
05:48What happens to him?
05:49Nothing good and everything bad,
05:51which is the way that we want it.
05:52I think he's just along for the ride.
05:54He's chasing flashy, shiny things
05:56and sticking with his buddies.
05:58Does he get his own spin-off?
05:59No, he is Joey from Friends.
06:01He's the only one that doesn't pair up.
06:03You need help, Matt.
06:04What is Grog Strongjaw's intelligence score?
06:07Oh, I know the number.
06:08I know the number.
06:09I think I remember you saying-
06:10Are you a bad friend?
06:11I have an intelligence of six.
06:13Yeah!
06:14Intelligence of six.
06:16Those have got quarters to them.
06:19How powerful is Grog?
06:22Oh.
06:23Oh man, like the beefiest, I'm the strongest of all.
06:27I had a strength score of 26 by the time
06:30the whole thing was done with-
06:31That's only if you were wearing a tights, then.
06:31That's illegal.
06:33Not only, it's not important,
06:35but yes, I was wearing them.
06:37Just the magical idea that that's me.
06:39It's so high.
06:40But they're monsters.
06:41I feel like that's like the highest core stat
06:43that any of us have.
06:44I picture him like the mountain in Game of Thrones
06:45and he could just do the helmet squish
06:47where the eye is like.
06:50Just like that.
06:51Yep, pretty much.
06:52It's another Grog question.
06:54What is Grog's sword?
06:58Who is Grog's sword?
06:59That's a better question.
07:01Grog took Silas Briarwood's sword after his demise,
07:05known as Craven Edge, which is a sentient weapon.
07:09It has a mind and can talk,
07:13which is strange.
07:14And every time you slash somebody with it,
07:15it would absorb their strength and their blood.
07:17So cool.
07:18And then it made Grog turn evil.
07:20Yeah, it did real bad things to Grog's strong point.
07:22Oh my gosh.
07:23What does Pike call Grog?
07:25Buddies.
07:26Buddies.
07:27Which is confusing,
07:29because he's a singular person.
07:31Yes, that's true.
07:32But buddies just stuck,
07:33because Ashley is Ashley?
07:34That's an Ashley-ism.
07:35That's an Ashley-ism.
07:36Yep, Ashley-ism.
07:38Oh, is Vax gay?
07:40That's a good question.
07:43I mean, he's bi.
07:44He's kind of tied up with the moment
07:48where we are in the show,
07:49but he's been around.
07:52Do you want to throw that one?
07:53Oh!
07:55If you hit me.
07:56That's great.
07:57Oh, that's cute.
07:58Do Vax and Keyleth get together?
08:00They do, awkwardly, slowly,
08:02with as much pain inflicted as possible.
08:06They do.
08:06Will Vax ever come back?
08:08Will Vax ever come back?
08:10I think they mean.
08:11Well, the honest answer is we don't know.
08:13We don't know!
08:14We don't know.
08:14And even he doesn't fully know, do you?
08:17Not particularly.
08:18Some of the most beautiful stories
08:20have their tragedy to it,
08:21and that's what makes them beautiful.
08:22I'm willing to roll with whatever feels natural.
08:25That's a shit answer, Matt.
08:26I know, I'm sorry, why am I here?
08:28It's not a fair question.
08:29I foresaw a future where we hit one of those sprinklers.
08:31This is a tough one.
08:33A tough one?
08:33Yeah.
08:34Like, we won't know the answer?
08:35What is Scanlan's mother's name?
08:37No, just kidding, that's not what it is.
08:38No, no, no, no, no.
08:40How tall is Scanlan?
08:42Three foot six.
08:44That's, wow.
08:45Yes.
08:46It's precise.
08:47That's our son's height.
08:48No, he's much taller than that.
08:50Just kidding.
08:51What episode does Scanlan leave Vox Machina?
08:56Oh, Jesus.
08:58You need to know the exact episode number
09:00from the campaign.
09:01Of the live stream?
09:02Yeah.
09:0385.
09:04Campaign one, episode 85.
09:05I know.
09:06Wow.
09:07A bar's a lament.
09:08Wow, well done.
09:10But in the animated series, who knows?
09:13What instrument does Scanlan play?
09:16Sure.
09:17What doesn't he play?
09:17When we were playing as a group at home,
09:20he had a shawm, he had a lute, he had a drum.
09:25Can we give him a theremin at some point?
09:26Sure.
09:27He plays the skin flute.
09:32Why is the Legend of Vox Machina a human body?
09:35You were gonna say the human body,
09:35but you made it form.
09:36Why did Scanlan,
09:39why did Scanlan leave Vox Machina?
09:41Well, in the game, at the table,
09:44the party, when he was dead,
09:46decided it'd be good to cover him in, what,
09:48chocolate sauce?
09:49Yeah, like, draw dicks on him.
09:50Yeah, we play shrinks.
09:51But it was only based on how he'd been behaving
09:55for that long.
09:56Sam had a scheduling conflict.
09:57And a disparity.
09:59He was in a rough place.
10:01He had been drinking, he had been consuming spice,
10:03which is an illegal substance,
10:05and realized that his teammates
10:07didn't really know anything or care about him.
10:09That is not.
10:10That's not true.
10:11See, that's an old wound.
10:11You don't need to do that.
10:12That is true.
10:13What's my mother's name?
10:14I know it now.
10:15Lenore!
10:16How old is Percy?
10:17I don't actually know this.
10:18I feel like, wait, I feel like I know this.
10:20He's young.
10:21He is young.
10:22But he's got the.
10:22The white hair is misleading.
10:23Early 20s, I think he was, like, 23.
10:24What?
10:25He's got the trauma hair.
10:26I know, I think he was 23.
10:27The poltergeist hair.
10:28Yeah.
10:29Oh, I don't know.
10:29Uh-oh.
10:31How tall is Percy?
10:33Tall enough.
10:34Tall enough.
10:35I can see why they're the twins.
10:37Ma'am.
10:38Ma'am, excuse me.
10:39This is an Arby's one.
10:42I know exactly how tall he is.
10:45In the animated series, he is six foot even
10:48because he is the benchmark for all other characters.
10:50Yes, he is the size comparison
10:52for all the rest of the characters.
10:53He's our ruler.
10:54How did Percy meet Vox Machina?
10:58We found him in our home game.
11:00He was in a prison cell.
11:02In the basement of a manor.
11:03Yeah, yeah.
11:04And he was in there for murder.
11:07That's right.
11:07Or attempted murder.
11:08Attempted murder, yeah.
11:09No, vengeance was in his heart.
11:10Yeah, so mysterious.
11:11But in the difference between the campaign
11:14and the show was that in the campaign,
11:16he had a ton of gold and we took it all.
11:19Who does Percy marry?
11:22Who knows?
11:24But maybe one day we'll get to explore.
11:25Some day.
11:26It's Vax, it's here.
11:28No, not Vax.
11:29Vax.
11:30I said Vax.
11:31No, you said Vax.
11:31I thought I said Vax.
11:32Let's leave the options open.
11:35Why is Percy's hair white?
11:37Because he looked into the closet in Poltergeist.
11:40Yeah, that's a reason.
11:41This house is clear.
11:45Trauma, he had all trauma.
11:46He got tortured by Ripley and the minions
11:49of the Briarwoods and all of that
11:52turned his hair shock white.
11:54What race is Percy?
11:56He's a human, baby.
11:57He's a dude.
11:58He's just a dude.
12:00Just a dude, bro.
12:01What is Percy's class?
12:03Hi.
12:07Blazed.
12:08His class was one that you made up, wasn't it?
12:10Well, it was a fighter class,
12:12but I had adapted a gunslinger subclass for it, yeah.
12:16What is Percy's full name?
12:19Okay, maybe we should do one name at a time.
12:23Percival.
12:24Fredrickstein.
12:26Von Musel.
12:27Kloswoski.
12:29de Rolo.
12:30The third.
12:31There it is.
12:32Got to.
12:34Who created Exandria?
12:36Chat GPT.
12:37I would've was all on that, it's in his brain.
12:42Well, not all me.
12:42We created it together, too.
12:44A lot of it was collaborative elements
12:45of you guys creating your backstories.
12:47I'm very proud of our 1%.
12:48Yeah.
12:49Yeah, more than that, buddy.
12:50Give yourself some credit.
12:51What is the religious city in Exandria?
12:54Well, technically, there are many religious cities
12:56in Exandria, but if we're referring
12:58to the most religious city, that would be Vasselheim,
13:01the Dawn Cradle, and the beginning of civilization,
13:03as well as faith within the pantheon of Exandria.
13:05I'm going to stop.
13:06Your turn.
13:07How do you come up with all that?
13:08All the lore.
13:09I spend a lot of time alone.
13:10I spend a lot of time alone.
13:11I spend a lot of time alone.
13:13How many outer planes does Exandria have?
13:17Oh, you know the exact number?
13:20Okay, Fey realm.
13:21Shadow realm.
13:22That's not a thing.
13:23Shadowfell.
13:24Fields of Elysium.
13:25Hells?
13:26Yeah.
13:26Is that kind of nine?
13:27Do you count nine on Exandria?
13:29What about fire plane?
13:31Water plane?
13:32Oh!
13:33Air plane?
13:33Yes.
13:34Yes.
13:35The plane.
13:36Okay, just guess a number.
13:38I think it was nine.
13:39Infinity.
13:40I'm going to go with 10.
13:41As I'm still developing the world, who knows?
13:42Oh!
13:43This is a good one for me.
13:45What you got?
13:46Is Exandria flat?
13:47No!
13:48No!
13:48No!
13:49No!
13:50I've established that it is so.
13:52No!
13:53No!
13:53My character in campaign three, Fresh Cut Grass,
13:56believes that the world is flat
14:00and has been offered no proof otherwise, so.
14:03Absolutely not true.
14:03Yes.
14:04I told you this, right?
14:05That the Flat Earth Society reached out
14:07and offered me a membership?
14:08They did.
14:09They did.
14:10They really thanked you for your contribution.
14:11They did.
14:12And then I wrote back and I was like,
14:13guys, you know I'm just kidding, right?
14:15And they were like, we don't care.
14:16All right, who is the wife of Silas Briarwood?
14:2350% of our fans.
14:24That's true.
14:25Delilah!
14:27Uh-huh, uh-huh.
14:28She's a bad lady.
14:29She's such a sweet lady.
14:30Oh, does Pike marry Scanlan?
14:34Go ahead.
14:35The answer is yes.
14:37Often.
14:37Often.
14:38A few times and or after drinks.
14:41They haven't married in the series.
14:44Not yet.
14:44Depends on how many seasons we get.
14:45Who knows if they will?
14:46Quick, watch.
14:47Enjoy.
14:48They'll both have to survive first.
14:49That's true.
14:50Who is the most popular member of Vox Machina?
14:53I can take it from here, guys.
14:55Is this based on the campaign or the animated series?
14:58Because I feel like it might be different.
14:59I think it's the same.
15:00I would say Keyleth for the animated series.
15:02The campaign.
15:05Grog?
15:06Grog's pretty popular.
15:07I can make an argument for many of you.
15:09Everybody has their favorites.
15:10Based on the animated series, I'm gonna say Percy.
15:12Based on the amount of fan art that I've seen
15:15in cosplay, I'm gonna probably go with Percy.
15:18Who is the best NPC in Vox Machina?
15:22This is a pit, oh my god.
15:25In the series, maybe.
15:25I mean, it's Matt Mercer.
15:27Matt Mercer appears in the Legend of Vox Machina
15:29all over the place as various guards, bad guys.
15:32I think for me it was Jarrett
15:34because he was a guard at our keep.
15:37And everybody wanted to bone Jarrett.
15:39I'll go Gilmore.
15:40I gotta say Gilmore, right?
15:41Victor.
15:42I'm partial to Allura because Allura was kind of
15:44myself insert in the campaign or in the series.
15:47She's great.
15:48Matt Mercer.
15:50Matt Mercer's my answer on our show.
15:52How big is Exandria?
15:54That is actually a really good question.
15:55It's just a question of area, right?
15:57Because we have three really large continents
15:59plus the Shattered Teeth and then a whole breadth
16:02of underwater stuff that we haven't even started to scratch
16:05plus poles and we haven't even gotten
16:08to the full edges of the sandbox.
16:10But you know, in terms of storytelling potential,
16:13how big is it?
16:14It's expensive.
16:15You have to sing the answer.
16:17It's expensive.
16:19Well, those are all the questions.
16:21Thank you so much for watching.
16:22We love you.
16:23Goodbye.