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| “ | People of Emon! Thordak demands capitulation. Submit to the Cinder King! | „ |
| ~ Thordak's first lines during the attack on Emon. |
| “ | Hear me, insects! You live out of mercy. Fight or flee, and you forfeit that mercy! A new age is upon you: the rule of the Chroma Conclave! | „ |
| ~ Thordak to the citizens of Emon, as well as his rise to power. |
Thordak, also known as the Cinder King, is one of the main antagonists in The Legend of Vox Machina, serving as a minor antagonist in the first season, the overarching antagonist of the second season, and one of the two main antagonists of the third season (alongside Raishan).
He is an ancient red dragon and the leader of the Chroma Conclave, who is said to be even larger, much stronger and more powerful than most other dragons, including his own kind. He even went completely mad, presumably due to the heart crystal that was embedded in his chest.
Furthermore, due to his vile and personal actions, he is one of the arch-enemies of Vox Machina, specifically being the arch-nemesis of the half-elf twins Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia, as he was responsible for killing their mother.
He was voiced by the late Lance Reddick, who also voiced General Lunaris in the DuckTales reboot and Steven Erickson in Invincible.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- He has no actual care for his conclave, only seeing them as tools to carry out his will. He frequently threatened them to carry out his orders under the threat of execution.
- He planned to backstab Brimscythe so the ambitious blue dragon won't be able to seize Emon for himself, though that proved unnecessary thanks to Vox Machina vanquished him first.
- He dismissed Umbrasyl's newfound interest in Vestiges of the Divergence which later confirmed to be powerful enough to vanquish foes around their caliber, further waning his loyalty toward the Cinder King.
- Though he and Vorugal have best dynamic with each other and angered by the latter's death, it is not a redeeming quality as he ended up denouncing him as useless for dying at hands of Vox Machina.
- After being fused with the Soul Anchor, Raishan stated that it drove him mad, which should indicate him having moral agency issues. However, most of the instances regarding Thordak being insane is mostly his paranoia of everyone acting against him, which is ultimately correct since Raishan was acting against him behind his back. Besides, he was already a destructive creature prior to fusing with the stone.
- Despite thinking highly of his children (ex. speaking to them in a fatherly manner and showing rage when they are all killed), he only saw them as means to continue his legacy at best and useful pawns like his conclave at worst thus not a redeeming quality. His care towards them doesn't reach to the extent of hesitating in sending them to their deaths at hands of the heroes, let alone coming to their aid when they're in danger and made considerable efforts to ensure their nest being not easy to demolish. Moreover, after all of them dead and Raishan turned against him, he retreats rather than try to avenge them despite supposedly capable of doing so even after losing his soul anchor.
- Although the series is an action comedy, Thordak has absolutely no humorous moments to speak of, and he is taken completely seriously from start to finish.
Past[]
- He destroyed Byroden, killing many of the residents, including Vex and Vax's mother.
- He battled Kima & Allura's adventuring party before being sealed in the Fire Plane.
- When Raishan found him in his prison, Thordak demanded the green dragon free him under the false pretense that he would cure her of her illness. As soon as Raishan freed him, Thordak went on to lay waste upon Pyrah, killing half of its citizens in process before he and Raishan conspired to establish Chroma Conclave with the latter assigned (or rather coerced as Raishan herself put it) to find more members.
Present[]
- Some time after Brimscythe's death, Thordak lead the remaining members to Emon to rampage & take it over, personally destroying the palace and killing the most people. He even went as far as to have Vorugal kill the escaping refugees, which was completely unnecessary (in Critical Role, Vorugal attacked the fleeing citizens on his own and had to be called off by Thordak himself, but even it was out of pragmatism).
- Once he had Emon in his clutches, he demanded the surviving residents submit to him under the threat of death, solely so they could give him their valuable possessions. But once his conclave found ways to get more, Thordak considered the residents' offerings pointless and killed them all.
- This contrasted to the similar situation in Critical Role where he simply and pragmatically left them alone when they outlived their usefulness.
- He sends Umbrasyl to go to Westrunn to get him more gold. When the black dragon finds Vestiges and brings them to Thordak's attention, Thordak simply scolds Umbrasyl for losing focus on his mission, even going as far as to to threaten to kill him if this caused him to show up late.
- Furthermore, when Vorugal informs Thordak of Umbrasyl's death, Thordak was completely indifferent.
- He (asexually) produces a cluster of eggs to make an army of wyrmlings to establish his reign on Tal'dorei.
- When Vox Machina tries to infiltrate his lair, he catches on and along with Vorugal, attempts to kill them, only failing to do so with Raishan's intervention.
- When having a meeting with Raishan and Vorugal, he demanded the latter hunt for Vox Machina & gets into an argument about with the former about withholding things. The argument ends with Thordak pinning her down and spitefully telling Vorugal to reward whoever delivers Vox Machina to him with Raishan's portion of their empire.
- After hearing about Vorugal's death, he angrily calls him useless, further hammering home he did not care about his subordinates.
- When Dr. Anna Ripley suddenly shows up in his lair to offer advice on attacking Whitestone, his initial reaction was seemingly to kill her simply for trespassing. After following her advice though, he sends his wyrmlings to Whitestone, which led to many deaths and injuries.
- When Vox Machina managed to find an army to fight Thordak, the army was woefully outmatched by both him & his wyrmlings. Thordak kills many of the soldiers, as well as Kashaw Vesh, which put his lover, Zahra in a nigh-depressive state post battle.
- Once he found Grog and Scanlan infiltrating his lair, he angrily tries to kill them by crushing them to death before the duo managed to escape.
- After Pike destroys the Soul Anchor fused to his chest, putting him in a weakened state, & when Raishan reveals her treachery to him, he attempts to flee, knowing he can't win at this point, only for Vax to finally kill him once & for all.
- Despite his death, it was not celebrated as his actions had steep consequences. Emon was still in ruins & many were still dead. Furthermore, his corpse was there for Raishan to take to enact her own ambitions and his crimes disillusioned a more benevolent Red Dragon who used to admire him so much that he anonymously donated his hoards toward Emon's reconstruction effort.
External Links[]
- Thordak on the Critical Role Wiki
- Thordak on the Villains Wiki
[]
 Pure Evils
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