Created by Critical Role Productions and Amazon Prime, The Mighty Nein follows a group of misfits with troubled pasts and secrets who find themselves drawn together by circumstance. They become entangled in a larger conflict and must work together to save the realm after a powerful arcane relic known as “The Beacon” falls into dangerous hands.
After three successful seasons of The Legend of Vox Machina, Critical Role has chosen to adapt one of their other D&D campaigns into an animated series called The Mighty Nein, which takes place within the same universe as Vox Machina but is set many years later, and focuses on a new set of characters and a new high-stakes story. I was really interested and excited to see what this new adventure would be like and how different it would be from Vox Machina. After watching all eight episodes of the first season, I can confidently say that The Mighty Nein is yet another incredible animated series to be delivered to us by Critical Role in their partnership with Amazon Prime. While it doesn’t completely reach the immense meteoric heights of Vox Machina, it’s an effective slow-burn story that got me hooked into a new band of lovable misfits that are part of a more emotionally mature and grounded story. It’s a far different series than I expected it to be, but that is a good thing because it surprised me in the best ways possible and it really found a way to stand out from not just Vox Machina but all other fantasy shows currently going on right now.
The entire voice cast of Vox Machina returns for this series as new characters working alongside all-new guest stars that give this series so much fantastic richness and powerful emotions with their respective performances. The main misfits are damaged in their own ways and dealing with their own struggles due to their different backgrounds, and they are all brought to life beautifully by the Critical Role members in their performances and the amazing writing they are given that is adapted from their campaign.
The Mighty Nein group includes Jester Lavorre, Fjord Stone, Caleb Widogast, Nott the Brave, Beauregard “Beau” Lionett, Mollymauk “Molly” Tealeaf, Essek Thelyss, and Yasha Nydoorin. Jester, voiced by Laura Bailey, is a mischievous tiefling cleric who follows an unseen deity known as “The Traveler” and serves as the most pure-hearted member of the group, offering the most levity and humor in this dark series. Jester is an instant favorite amongst the group, not only for her humorous antics but also for how she ends up bringing out the best qualities in every other character in the group with all their tragic or dark backgrounds. She’s a booming beacon of hope and light that is wonderfully brought to life by Laura Bailey and stealing the spotlight in every moment she can, especially when paired with Fjord.
Fjord Stone, voiced by Travis Willingham, is an orphaned half-orc warlock and sailor who unknowingly gains magical abilities after surviving a shipwreck and encountering a mysterious monster in the sea. Fjord has the classic beats of a strong and confident heroic figure on the surface but it’s mostly a facade to hide his insecurities and feelings of worthlessness that are direct result of his past as an orphan and his inability to save his crew from the shipwreck. As we spend more time with him we see that he deeply values loyalty to others in the group, mostly Jester, despite his internal struggles and ties to a dark patron that demands him to learn, grow, provoke, and consume against his desire to be a good man. Travis Willingham does such a wonderful job voicing this character and sharing perfect chemistry with Laura Bailey’s Jester, reflecting their real life marriage and love for each other.
Caleb Widogast, voiced by Liam O’Brien, is a scruffy human wizard with a command of fire-based magic and is the most focused character of this season. Out of all of the characters that we are introduced to in this series so far, Caleb has the most tragic backstory that began with a seemingly innocent call to action to become a nation’s magical protector but quickly takes a dark turn when he is manipulated into committing horrific acts against innocent lives. He is initially defined by his deep trauma, love for fire magic, methodical nature, and profound guilt but gradually evolves into a caring, loyal friend to the group, seeking redemption and to protect others from the manipulative forces he faced that act as the primary threat in the story. This character and his story absolutely blew me away for how dark it goes and that darkness is enhanced by a truly phenomenal performance by Liam O’Brien, who delivers some of the best scenes in this series with his voice acting.
To me he is the best developed character so far in the series, alongside his companion Nott the Brave, voiced by Sam Riegel, a goblin rogue who is specialized in stealth and crossbow combat but suffers from alcoholism. As funny as the idea of Sam Riegel voicing an alcoholic female goblin may sound on paper, you end up quickly taking the character seriously as a result of both Riegel’s emotional voice performance and her beautiful bond with Caleb that gives us a small insight into her own potentially tragic past. She takes on a maternal role to Caleb after seeing just how damaged he is, and looks out for him even when no one else trusts him. It will be interesting to see more of her character explored in the future as she stays with this group.
Beauregard “Beau” Lionett, voiced by Marisa Ray, is a human monk from the Cobalt Soul who is skilled in martial arts and her investigative work is what kicks off the events of the main story, leading the group to come together. Beau is a fiercely loyal, rebellious, and physically gifted fighter that also has an abrasive exterior, sharp wit, love for authority-challenging, impulsiveness, and deep care for her found family. She clearly uses her physical prowess to protect others while hiding her own deep insecurities that come to the surface as the season progresses. Marisa Ray does an amazing job making this character sound and feel starkly different from Keyleth in Vox Machina with her voice performance, showing off incredible range alongside her other cast members.
Mollymauk “Molly” Tealeaf, voiced by Taliesen Jaffe, is tiefling blood hunter who works as a tarot card reader in a traveling carnival but ends up losing everything and everyone he cares for when a tragic accident occurs, forcing him to be a part of the group. He’s a chaotic but caring individual, driven by seeking happiness and pleasure in various forms that often mask deeper complexities that are all brought to life wonderfully by Taliesen Jaffe’s fantastic performance. His charisma wins you over immediately upon first meeting him, but what makes him intriguing is his mysterious past that gets lightly touched upon throughout the season through his strange blood powers and hints of a past that he has no memory of. He’s a fun character that I’m eager to learn more of and see evolve further like everyone else in the group.
Essek Thelyss, voiced by Matthew Mercer, is a drow wizard from the Kryn Dynasty who is involved in high level machinations between the Dynasty and the Empire while hiding his own secret that drives his very actions this season. While not as heavy of a focus compared to the rest of the Mighty Nein group, Essek proves to be a very compelling character of his own that stands out due to his sympathetic motives, conflicting morals that cause certain events to unfold, and Mercer’s incredible performance. This character makes consequential choices that affect the story and characters in many ways but at the same time you understand why he makes these decisions and can never really blame him entirely for committing them. What he chooses to do next to redeem himself is something that is set up for the second season to follow and I am eager to see where it goes.
Yasha Nydoorin, voiced by Ashley Johnson, is an aasimar barbarian and mercenary from the wastes of Xhorhas within the Kryn Dynasty who is introduced later in the season as the last member to join the Mighty Nein group. Not much is shown or known about this character upon her late introduction other than she’s a violent beast of a warrior that seeks the same artifact as everyone else and is willing to kill anyone to get it. Despite a fearsome entrance I found her character to be extremely underutilized for this first season and she seems to only be set up to be further explored in season 2. From what I understand she had a much larger role in the original campaign that had to be cut down for this adaptation due to scheduling conflicts for Ashley Johnson, which is understandable but at the same time I did feel underwhelmed by her late introduction.
The guest stars of this series are all amazing cast members that are perfect fits for their respective characters, including Lucy Liu as Empress Leylas Kryn, Ming-Na Wen as Expositor Dairon, Rahul Kohli as General Verrat, and Nathan Fillion who steals the spotlight as the sleazy black market dealer ‘The Gentleman’. The most significant stand out of the lot though is Mark Strong as the main villain Trent Ikithon, the Archmage of Civil Influence for the Cerberus Assembly and former master to Caleb Widogast. Mark Strong delivers a shockingly unrecognizable voice performance as this cruel, manipulative, and sadistic man, making him sound like a great villain for the Mighty Nein to go up against. But there is just one big problem: his motives presented in this season are honestly boring and bland. Despite all the awesome work Mark Strong puts in to make this guy sound like a menace he doesn’t feel like a menace since he just seems to be a typical power-hungry wizard that doesn’t stand out as much compared to the Briarwoods or the Chroma Conclave from Vox Machina who felt unique in their own ways with their motives and actions. Basically, he was all bark with very little bite but I hope to be proven wrong when the next season comes along.
From a narrative standpoint, the series excels in introducing us to these new characters and bringing them together in an emotionally compelling and grounded story that offers high stakes for the realm and personal stakes for each character. Just like Vox Machina, great humor is present, but unlike Vox Machina, this series focuses on much more darker elements and themes for the characters, making it a more mature story that I got very engaged in from start to end. With that said, I was left wanting more from this series by the end, showing that eight episodes just wasn’t enough for such an investing group of misfits involved in an investing story.
The finale episode had a lot of satisfying moments but it ends things off on a cliffhanger that I felt wasn’t as satisfying in terms of a season ending. Had the series not been confirmed to be getting a second season I would have been a lot more critical of this ending, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying. While I’m not someone who is completely opposed to an eight-episode season for a series I do think this is one series that could have benefited from a few more additional episodes to flesh out some of the characters that didn’t get as much screen time as others and further progress the plot a bit more.
From a technical standpoint, the animation of this series is perfect in every single frame, oozing with a vast range of colors and visuals that have their own unique visual identity compared to Vox Machina and other fantasy shows. It is also a lot more graphic in terms of action and gore, which was a bit surprising but not completely unexpected given how violent the world of Vox Machina has been known to be. The score by Vox Machina composer, Neal Acree, is also fantastic, making this series feel like a dark fantasy epic at times with audible thrills and chills.
This series may not be on the exact level as the first three seasons of Vox Machina but it is still an awesome series that has the potential to be on the same level and is absolutely worth watching. I’m going to give The Mighty Nein Season 1 an A = 97.
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