Jester Lavorre looking off to the side in The Mighty Nein episode 4
By
Nick Bythrow
Published 14 minutes ago
Nick Bythrow is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant. He has been writing for the site since September 2022. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2022, where he triple majored in Journalism, Communications, and Media Studies. When he's not writing about TV and movies for ScreenRant and his blog, Frayed Branches, Nick is penning speculative fiction and poetry on Amazon. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.
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Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for The Mighty Nein episode 4!The Mighty Nein showrunner and cast explain why the animated adaptation changed the Critical Role campaign to kill off a key character. The Legend of Vox Machina spinoff saw its core characters finally unite in episode 4 following the carnival massacre in the previous episode. They escape and go looking for Toya, an elf girl part of the carnival.
Upon finding her, however, The Mighty Nein heroes learn she's been possessed by the Devil-Toad, which warns that it's the only thing keeping her alive. While Nott and Jester are able to free her from its grasp, Toya dies. Her death leads to the group banding together. However, in the original Critical Role campaign, Toya doesn't end up dead.
In an interview with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns, The Mighty Nein showrunner Tasha Huo explained how the "shared trauma" of Toya's death was used to bring the group closer together. He explains how, while the group isn't truly a team by this point in the story, her death is a starting point putting them on the right path:
ScreenRant: One spoiler question I had for you that I'll save for the appropriate time is this: one of the big changes you make this season is Toya's death, which just devastated me in episode 4. I'd love to hear about that creative process, and what the thinking was behind making that big change this season.
Tasha Huo: It was really important to me, because at that point in the story, the Mighty Nein are not a team, and they needed something to come together over. As Molly says in that episode, we now have shared trauma, and that is something that starts to put them at least on the road to becoming a team. I wouldn't say they're a team yet, but being able to share this experience - this very sad, traumatic, difficult experience - together really starts to put them on the path towards becoming a team. that became, to me, a very important key.
ScreenRant: It also keeps you on your toes as a viewer.
Tasha Huo: Yeah, nobody's safe.
Cast members Sam Riegel (Nott), Liam O'Brien (Caleb), and Matt Mercer (Essek) also chimed in, explaining how death is utilized in both Critical Role adaptations. Not only does Toya's demise raise the stakes, but it also emphasizes how the series can change elements of the original to offer a different experience while staying true to the story and characters:
ScreenRant: This is a spoiler, so I will save it for after the episode. I can't believe you all killed Toya. I'm so devastated, and I would love to hear about making that change from the Campaign for this series.
Sam Riegel: I mean, we just wanted to kill Moana, really. [Laughs] No, in this series and in Legend of Vox Machina, we've got to keep those stakes high. There has to be some some death, or else nothing really matters. And what better way to show the audience that this s--t is real than by killing a 13-year-old kid?
Liam O'Brien: The Mighty Nein are a bunch of lonely loners, and they have a lot of personal s--t to get over. And what's a better motivating factor to pull yourself the f--k up and do the right thing, than something that costly?
Matt Mercer: It's the concept of a mixed success for the group the first time they truly come together as a troop, and their victory is hollow because they couldn't save everybody. That is very much in line with the themes that bring them together and continue to push them forward in the story. I think one of the wonderful things that we're afforded when we get to do these animated adaptations is to go back to the story that inspired all of it, and together be like, "How do we plus it? What are the changes we feel that improve it from our original, improvised play?" This is definitely one example of something that we felt bettered the story we were trying to tell and the themes that we wanted to convey with it this time around.
Liam O'Brien: It's really rainbows and sunshine the back half. [Laughs]
Toya hanging onto a rope in The Mighty Nein episode 3
The Mighty Nein had already made changes to Toya's character, such as depicting her as an elf instead of as a dwarf like in the original campaign. The decision to kill her off served a greater purpose, though, with her death allowing for the Nein to have a collective failure that brings them all together, beginning their journey.
It also raises the stakes in general, since it means The Mighty Nein's story will have plenty of twists and turns. Huo clearly isn't afraid to change aspects of the original campaign to make it more surprising for viewers already familiar with it. But it's clear these changes will only happen if they serve the series as a whole.
With Toya's death marking the halfway point of The Mighty Nein, the show is finally progressing into the core heroes becoming the close team they're destined to be. Although more surprises are destined to be in store as the series progresses, the show's big change sounds like it'll pay off as the campaign adaptation progresses.
New episodes of The Mighty Nein arrive Wednesdays on Prime Video.
9.9/10
The Mighty Nein
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Animation Sci-Fi & Fantasy Action Release Date November 19, 2025 Network Prime Video Writers Tasha Huo Franchise(s) Critical RoleCast
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Laura Bailey
Jester
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Marisha Ray
Beau
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Mighty Nein
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