Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina through season 4, episode 9, “The Temple of Truth.”The Legend of Vox Machina‘s season 4 finale is quickly approaching, and the odds are even more stacked against the heroes than when they were facing the Chroma Conclave. The fourth season had been slowly but surely introducing villains with necromantic powers, thanks to the Whispered One. After “The Temple of Truth,” it’s clear just how deadly all five of them are when working together. In fact, the only fun element of the group is the name that Tary gave them: the “Unalive Five.”
Delilah Briarwood seemed like the biggest threat out of all five, not least because both Percy and Pike had every reason to want vengeance on her. In the shocking ending of episode 9, the Death Knight proved that he should never be underestimated. His actions led to Grog’s death, and Pike’s possibly fatal decision in the aftermath. The Dark Bard poses a huge problem for the team without Scanlan, and the necromantic powers mean that even Beastmaster and the Priestess of Night, who otherwise wouldn’t have seemed like the heaviest hitters, are formidable foes.
As of “The Temple of Truth,” the Unalive Five are already deadlier to every Vox Machina character than any of main foes from previous seasons. After all, Vex’s death was an accident after a booby trap was triggered, and Percy died during a season 3 side quest away from the dragon threat. Grog’s death raises the stakes almost impossibly high ahead of the season 4 finale, and the surviving members of Vox Machina didn’t even succeed in taking out one of the five.
Now, they’ve lost their tank due to Grog’s demise, and their cleric is on the other side of a portal with all of their biggest enemies. It remains to be seen what kind of havoc the Whispered One himself will wreak, but the first nine episodes showed enough of the Unalive Five’s abilities to give an idea of how bad things are about to get for Vox Machina.
Delilah Briarwood
The return of Delilah Briarwood was teased early in season 4, for any viewers who watched the closing credits of the first three episodes. Grey DeLisle, who voiced Delilah in season 1, was credited for “Additional Voices.” DeLisle came to The Legend of Vox Machina as a voice acting legend, known for voicing Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Daphne in multiple Scooby-Doo projects, and Wonder Woman in several DC Comics series, to name just a few of her characters.
Suffice it to say that The Legend of Vox Machina probably wouldn’t bring DeLisle back just for “Additional Voices.” The masked villain of early season 4, identified as “Necro-Ninja” in the subtitles, was unmasked as Delilah herself. Being resurrected by the Whispered One gave her healing abilities, which guarantee that she can’t be killed by any of Vox Machina’s usual weapons. Her deadly necromancy powers from season 1 are more terrifying than ever, and now she has the backing of the would-be god to augment her death magic.
Delilah is also the clear leader of the Unalive Five, despite the Priestess of Night handling the majority of the religious rituals that will allow the Whispered One to ascend to godhood, if all goes according to the evil plan. Delilah helped create the Death Knight, and her ability to create a shield around her saved her life when Pike attacked with Mythcarver. Delilah is still motivated to want her husband, Sylas, back from the dead, so it remains to be seen if her loyalties will be tested (and her death magic aimed in a different direction) moving forward.
Priestess Of Night
Other than Delilah Briarwood, Priestess of Night is the only member of the Unalive Five who appeared in The Legend of Vox Machina before season 4. She debuted back in season 1 as High Priestess Talia, one of the clerics at the Everlight temple. Voiced by Anjali Bhimani, Talia returned with a vengeance in season 4, but was hardly recognizable as the kindly woman who had tried to help Pike. Driven to desperation by the plight of her daughter, Talia vowed service to the Whispered One and became one of his Children of Truth.
Now known as the Priestess of Night, she was one of the first members of the Unalive Five to pose a threat to Vox Machina in season 4, as well as to demonstrate the unnatural healing abilities granted by the Whispered One. She nearly killed Pike and Grog just by setting a booby trap in her quarters at the temple; those powers are a significant threat to the team at this point. If the Whispered One does ascend to godhood, perhaps her powers would become even more overwhelming for Vox Machina.
A lot may depend on Pike, but seeing Talia corrupted by the Whispered One didn’t exactly help Pike during her crisis of faith. She is the member of the Unalive Five who came the closest to actually being killed by Vox Machina in episode 9, and was only saved when Delilah kicked her across the magic boundary, where she was able to heal. While not the most formidable in melee combat in the first nine episodes, she may have learned some deadly lessons by surviving Vox Machina’s attack.
Death Knight
During The Legend of Vox Machina‘s first three seasons, the only creatures who truly came close to killing Grog were: Sylas, who could rely on his vampiric abilities; Kevdak, who needed the gauntlets to even come close to killing Grog; and literal dragons. The Death Knight, voiced by Sam Riegel in the mostly Scanlan-free fourth season, is the only one to actually succeed. The Death Knight killing Grog is clear proof that members of the Unalive Five don’t need Delilah’s formidable death magic to take down a member of Vox Machina.
The Death Knight, who was turned into the necromatic tank by Delilah and the Priestess, might have just been Grog’s equal, if not for his ability to heal. From what season 4 has shown so far, the Death Knight is still fundamentally a melee fighter, and Grog might have had the better of him in episode 9, if not for the anti-magic circle that kept him from using his gauntlets and ending the fight early. Pike nearly ended the Death Knight’s life with Mythcarver, slashing him in the throat.
Despite recovering enough to kill Grog, the Death Knight is one of the members of the Unalive Five who came close to losing to Vox Machina. Percy or Vex might have the best chance against him as the team’s two ranged fighters, but they’d need to get rid of his armor first. Add on the necromancy powers from the Whispered One, and he was the one character who could take take down Grog and walk away.
Beastmaster
Beastmaster brought trouble to Whitestone early in season 4. Vex encountered a monstrous creature that was blind, but no less deadly for it. Killing the creature, which was identified in the subtitles as a gloomstalker, didn’t end the problem, which became clear as soon as the monster’s master appeared. Voiced by Chris Prynoski, Beastmaster unleashed the resurrected gloomstalker during the climactic battle of episode 9. As if that wasn’t enough, he also summoned a cloud of swirling smoke, and yelled “Get them, my pets!” into it.
It’s not entirely clear what happened to the gloomstalker at the end of the fight. It did escape the circle that prevented healing at one point, but also seemed pretty dead when it crashed into Delilah. The episode didn’t show the creature escaping the circle either, whereas every member of the Unalive Five was specifically shown going through the portal. Beastmaster’s ability to battle Vox Machina may depend on the fate of the gloomstalker.
That said, with a name like Beastmaster, as well as him yelling “My pets!” into the cloud, it seems likely that he can master more beasts than just that one. He likely would have died from Vax’s dagger attack if Vox Machina hadn’t been forced to flee, but the heroes shouldn’t count him out just yet.
The Dark Bard
The Dark Bard was the last of the Unalive Five to debut, but possibly also the most memorable. Critical Role recruited Australian singer Tom Cardy to voice the musician. After three seasons of Scanlan yelling “Scanlan’s hand!” to summon the giant purple hand and help the heroes, the Dark Bard shrieked “Demon’s claw!” to nearly kill them all in one fell swoop.
His red magic, augmented by Mythcarver, nearly overwhelmed Scanlan and his purple magic, even when helped by Kaylie and the rest of Vox Machina. The battle in episode 9 proved that Dark Bard is nearly as dangerous without the vestige, and he’s arguably the biggest wild card of the Unalive Five.
While the other four villains seem more likely to do physical damage, the Dark Bard’s real edge was revealed in the epic bard-on-bard battle with Scanlan. He was able to incapacitate almost the entire team at once with just his voice, and any of the rest of the Unalive Five could have picked them off while they were in that state. He’s also capable of dealing damage by summoning creatures made out of his magic. Luckily, Scanlan’s evil counterpart didn’t manage to keep Mythcarver.
The anti-magic circle in episode 9 was likely Vox Machina’s best shot at defeating him. Whether they’ll get another shot remains to be seen. With just three episodes left in season 4, it’s possible that the villains of the Unalive Five will pale in comparison to what happens when the Whispered One is unleashed, but there are far more questions than answers. At this point, fans can always prepare for the finale by revisiting earlier episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina, which are available streaming on Prime Video now.
- Release Date
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January 27, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Brandon Auman
- Directors
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Young Heller, Eugene Lee, Alicia Chan
- Writers
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Eugene Son, Travis Willingham, Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Suzanne Keilly, Mae Catt, Todd Casey, Ashly Burch, May Chan, Marc Bernardin
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Laura Bailey
Vex’ahlia (voice)
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Taliesin Jaffe
Percy (voice)