What You Need to Know About Critical Role's Mighty Nein
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The Legend of Vox Machina has been so successful that it was no surprise when Prime Video announced a third season of Critical Role’s animated fantasy was in development—or when the streamer confirmed that the beloved TTRPG’s second campaign, The Mighty Nein, is now getting an adaptation of its own.
Whereas audiences were introduced to the heroes of Vox Machina some time after their adventures had started, the Mighty Nein campaign grew in real time with Critical Role’s audience. Set 20 years after the events of the Vox Machina campaign, Mighty Nein focuses on a new cast of characters in Exandria’s world, and is the campaign largely responsible for the Actual Play series’ success as a brand.
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If you’re wondering who the Mighty Nein are as characters, we’ve got you covered. Naturally, we’re only covering Mighty Nein as played by the show’s main cast—sorry to all you fans of a certain hot boi—and we’ve kept it spoiler-free, save one character turn that happens early on and is kind of unavoidable. If these characters interest you, good news: you can watch all of the Mighty Nein campaign on YouTube or listen to it as a podcast.
Fjord
Voiced by Travis Willingham, Fjord is a half-orc dock worker turned sailor, and later granted warlock powers while out at sea by a mysterious patron. Armed with a wicked falchion and a Texas accent, Fjord often bounces between serving as the Mighty Nein’s leader (at least, at first) and comic relief, depending on the situation. Just don’t ask him about his whole thing with the sea.
Jester Lavorre
Played by Laura Bailey and a fan favorite character, Jester is a tiefling cleric who specializes in pulling pranks and causing problems. Much of her story in the campaign concerns her relationship with a mysterious being called the Traveler, who she talks about to anyone and at everyone. Jester also has the distinction of being the first Mighty Nein character to receive her own graphic novel, drawn by Hunter Bonyun and written by Sam Maggs in collaboration with Bailey and the series’ lead DM Matthew Mercer.
Nott the Brave
Sam Riegel’s goblin rogue is a lot of things. She’s a drunk, she’s a kleptomaniac, and she’s a far cry from Scanlan in the Vox Machina series. Like Jester—or well, the entire Mighty Nein cast—she’s a fan favorite character who comes into her own, particularly towards the middle part of the campaign.
Caleb Widogast
A man who’s as talented and curious as he is stinky, Liam O’Brien’s Caleb is a powerful wizard whose magic abilities come in clutch during the campaign. Everyone in the Mighty Nein’s ranks has walls put up at the start, but he’s one of the more guarded members. As a result, there’s a tension early in the campaign that doesn’t really exist in “Vox Machina,” either in campaign or animated series form. Also, he’s got an adorable little cat familiar named Frumpkin who is comically fragile.
Mollymauk Tealeaf
Admittedly, Mollymauk technically wasn’t as part of the Mighty Nein as long as everyone else. Even so, Taliesin Jaffe’s character left an impression on the fanbase and the characters themselves. The tiefling blood hunter’s time with the group helped define the campaign and helped change its trajectory in some substantial ways.
Yasha Nydoorin
Like with Pike in the “Vox” campaign, Yasha occasionally dips in and out of the action to account for performer Ashley Johnson being on a TV show at the time. When Johnson showed up to play her aasimar barbarian, the campaign worked to give Johnson time to develop the character and continue her journey. And when she’s not doing that, she’s being a buff, strong lesbian with pretty good comedic timing.
Caduceus Clay
You can’t really talk about The Mighty Nein without talking about Caduceus Clay. The firbolg cleric is Jaffe’s other character after Molly leaves the picture, and his polar opposite in a variety of ways. If you watched some early episodes of Vox Machina’s second season, there’s a chance that you saw him in the background. Caduceus is very kind and very funny, and it’ll be fun to see that cow man pop up in animated form.
Beauregard Lionett
And finally, Beau. The human monk played by Marisha Ray wears a lot of hats throughout the campaign. She’s abrasive and a complete mess, but she’s also a lot of fun, particularly as the campaign goes on and she gets to come into her own. And from a gameplay perspective, she’s deeply overpowered, but in the best way. Monks, man.
You can see Beau and the rest of the party in animated TV form when Critical Role: The Mighty Nein comes to Prime Video in the near future.
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