You want to see how angry Scanlan can really get? Then you unfortunately missed a great scene from the original.
The Legend of Vox Machina is one of the best fantasy serieswhich you can currently watch. At least if you enjoy animated shows. But apart from that, it is a very special show because it is based almost entirely on a real D&D game that was streamed live for years.
This means that the fans of Vox Machina or Critical Role, as the company behind it is called, already know parts of the story. Similar to a game or a book that is ultimately transferred to a new medium.
That’s why fans of the show were surprised by the Season 3 finale and some were downright angry. Anyone who knows the template namely misses an integral moment around the bard Scanlan. Like the creators of the show in a live stream But betrayed, it was deliberately avoided and the reasons for this are also related to Amazon and Season 4.
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The Legend of Vox Machina: Critical Role series starts its third season in October
The Bard’s Lament
Danger! Spoilers from here on out! We are specifically talking about the end of episode 12 in season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina and also about a scene from the original. So think carefully about whether you continue reading from here.
In the last episode of the current season, the group of heroes called Vox Machina celebrates many victories and successes. They have defeated the dragons of the Chroma Conclave and many of them have come closer to their personal goals and relationships. But it’s also a little bittersweet, after all the group breaks up afterwards and everyone goes their own way.
This may already sound tragic, But in the template there was a lot more noise here. A famous episode of Critical Role is called The Bard’s Lament and actually takes place directly after the heroes’ victory over the dragon Raishan.
During the course of the battle, the always good-humoured bard Scanlan (Sam Riegel) dies, but is revived a little later in a magical ritual with the help of his daughter Kaylie (Matt Mercer in Critical Role / Aisling Franciosi in The Legend of Vox Machina). But instead of being happy, the bard really gets out of his skin for the first time.
What follows is a real emotional tirade in which he accuses his friends of not really caring about him for various reasons and that he only ever seems to be good for good jokes and funny songs. Actually, that’s the reason which is why at least Scanlan leaves the group. The whole scene can be seen here:
Link to YouTube content
We didn’t know if there would be another season
For many fans, such an important scene is of course definitely part of the history of Vox Machina. But there is some in the animated series just a slightly steamed down version. Scanlan falls into a coma before the fight against Raishan and is woken up with Kaylie’s help. He survives the fight with Raishan unscathed. But then he announces that he wants to travel the world with Kaylie. There is no bad blood and the rest of the gang wants a little time for themselves.
In the season roundtable for the season finale, Sam Riegel and Critical Role CEO Travis Willingham explain how this decision came about. Accordingly, the team did not know during the production of Season 3 whether there will be a fourth season. During the course of the season, Willingham pointed out several times that a lot of people would have to watch for Amazon to renew the series.
A fourth season has now been officially confirmed by Amazon. But since that remained unclear until the end, Scanlan’s departure was rewritten. The team didn’t want the series to end in such an upsetting manner, but rather wanted to at least convey the feeling of a completed story – even if it actually continued for a long time afterwards.
But since Season 4 is sure to come, the bard’s lament may not be completely off the table after all. The animated series is taking more liberties with the retelling of the story anyway, and it would be entirely possible to include Scanlan’s big temper tantrum elsewhere.
We don’t yet know when the next season will come. However, we expect a fairly long production cycle as Amazon only recently released the new season. So expect it to happen at the end of 2025 or even 2026.
