On June 3, Prime Video is releasing the fourth season of an acclaimed animated series fans have been waiting for since October 2023. Although Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon has garnered more attention in the intervening period, this lesser-known TV show’s cartoon dragons are far superior to the winged lizards of Westeros.
It’s only fitting that a series within the Dungeons & Dragons franchise should show Game of Thrones how it’s done, given that the role-playing game has been instrumental in turning dragons into the ultimate villains of the modern fantasy genre. Its animated TV spinoff The Legend of Vox Machina is arguably the best rendering of D&D’s titular antagonists onscreen.
There might be as many as 17 dragons in House of the Dragon, but none of them are anywhere near as impressive as the five dragons of the Chroma Conclave in Prime Video’s returning TV show. What’s more, dragons in the Game of Thrones universe are powerful and terrifying, but they’re also predictable and not particularly original.
The fire-breathing creatures in House of the Dragon are mere tools of war with no real agency of their own. Meanwhile, the antagonists of possibly the best modern D&D TV show are a very different kind of dragon, with a wide variety of frightening powers, alongside with mental cunning and complex personal and political motivations.
The Legend Of Vox Machina’s Dragons Are Way More Ambitious Than Those In House Of The Dragon
Whereas House of the Dragon’s titular mythical beasts bring absolutely nothing new to the table, besides the fact that their primary role in the story is to be mounted by warriors who use them as weapons during a battle, the dragons in The Legend of Vox Machina have innovative character backstories which help explain their various powers.
For instance, the brutish black dragon Umbrasyl breathes acid, because his ancient heritage has given him special internal organs which are able to combine magical dragon blood with elemental energy to create a corrosive substance. On the other hand, the Chroma Conclave’s leader, Thordak, breathes superheated fire because he has a titan heart crystal in his chest.
As the biggest and strongest of the five dragons in the Conclave, he is its undisputed leader, and directs the group according to his desire to conquer Emon and avenge his banishment from the city. Yet, it wasn’t Thordak who devised this alliance among the dragons.
Instead, it was the ancient green Raishan, who proposed it as a means to overcome a debilitating disease she suffers from. Each of the dragons have their own interests, meaning they often come into conflict with one another, as well as their more natural adversaries.
By building many of its storylines around intelligent and manipulative dragon characters, The Legend of Vox Machina succeeds in getting as close to Dungeons & Dragons as a gaming experience as it’s possible to be through the medium of TV animation. It’s very often the case that fans are tempted to side with the show’s spellbinding villains over its humanoid heroes.
The Legend Of Vox Machina’s Dragons Are Closer To Tolkien Than Game Of Thrones
Like The Legend of Vox Machina, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings franchise has a handful of named dragons, who are cunning, independent actors rather than primitive beasts to be exploited as tools in war. It’s unsurprising that the animated series shares this similarity with Tolkien, since Dungeons & Dragons was famously inspired by his fictional universe Middle Earth.
Conversely, Game of Thrones places human characters at the center of its geopolitical power struggles, with magical creatures playing at most a secondary role in wars and maneuvers between rival houses. The Legend of Vox Machina makes dragons an equal part of the struggle for power in Exandria, which is key to their status as standout characters in the show.
- 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)
