Vox Machina Origins

From scattered mercenaries to a legendary brotherhood: the story of how Vox Machina began.

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins is a comic series published by Dark Horse Comics that serves as a prequel to the web series. It details how the characters formed the adventuring party known as Vox Machina before the events of Campaign One. The story spans four volumes, with Matthew Colville writing the first and Jody Houser the following three. Olivia Samson drew the first three volumes and Noah Hayes the fourth. Released starting in September 2017, the series bridges the gap between the characters' isolated pasts and their legendary status.

Lore & Background

The narrative begins with the half-elven twins Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia investigating a curse in the swamp near Stilben, where they meet the druid Keyleth. Simultaneously, the bard Scanlan and barbarian Grog raid a fish-god temple before encountering the dragonborn sorcerer Tiberius. These groups converge after tracking an alchemist involved with a poison affecting the peasants. They are ambushed by Iselda, a member of the Myriad crime syndicate who can step out of mirrors.

After Vax is kidnapped and later escapes, the group unites to stop a ritual spell harming the swamp. Grog kills Iselda in her fiend form, cementing their first bond. In Volume 2, the party separates when Grog has a vision of his father and heads toward Westruun. The twins, Scanlan and Keyleth follow, while Tiberius leaves to pursue research in the Ashen Gorge; Pike joins them after scrying on Grog in a nearby mountain known for madness.

They rescue Grog from Drath Mephrun, a shadowy skeletal creature that had ensnared him together with skeletons including his father's, but he is left with a cursed scar. To cure him, the group splits to retrieve a nymph's heart and a nightmare's skull. During this quest, Pike, Scanlan and Keyleth find the gunslinger Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III in a jail in Jorenn Village, and he helps them defeat a cult summoning a nightmare. Percy joins the group, and when Eskil begins the cure ritual Grog is possessed by Drath Mephrun.

Reader's Guide

The comic series consists of four volumes, each containing six issues. Volume 1 was released digitally starting September 20, 2017, with print collections following in May 2018 and October 2019. It features art by Olivia Samson and writing by Matthew Colville. Volume 2 continued the story in 2019, both digitally and in print, with a trade paperback released on August 12, 2020.

Jody Houser took over as writer for this volume, which also featured Olivia Samson as the artist. Volume 3 was published in 2021, with issues released both digitally and in print, followed by a print collection in November 2022. The fourth volume ran from May 2024 to May 2025, with its print collection scheduled for November 2025. Noah Hayes became the artist for this final volume.

In February 2025, Dark Horse announced that Volume 1 would be re-released as single print issues starting in June 2025 as part of Critical Role's 10th anniversary. The series is a collaborative effort where writers receive outlines from the Critical Role team to ensure consistency with character voices and magic systems.