The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 ends with an unexpected alliance

The second installment of The Legend of Vox Machina exceeded all expectations of devoted fans worldwide with its distinctive plot, vivid and detailed world setting, antagonists, and more.

The second season saw Vox Machina being challenged by Chroma Conclave, the faction of five ferocious dragons: Thordak, Raishan, Umbrasyl, Vorugal, and Brimscythe.

Brimscythe was the first Chroma Conclave member to make his debut in the first season and the first dragon to be slain by the legendary Vox Machina. The faction's other members were too dominant to be put down. However, somehow, Scanlan Shorthalt surprised everyone by eliminating Umbrasyl with the Mythcarver, cutting down the Chroma Conclave’s numbers to three.

However, for fans, the most surprising part of the unlooked-for penultimate episode was the startling cliffhanger, where Raishan sought an alliance with Vox Machina to take down the “Cinder King” Thordak.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina and Critical Role.

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Raishan was the true progenitor of the Chroma Conclave in The Legend of Vox Machina

Raishan, the “Diseased Deceiver,” is the ancient dragon who formed the Chroma Conclave in the original story. Adhering to her nature, she is well-known for deception, manipulation, and trickery, which is why she is even presumed to overpower the Cinder King Thordak with just her overwhelming intelligence.

Raishan met Thordak around 806 PD, where, after taking the form of a humanoid girl, she infiltrated the Fire Ashari village of Pyrah, earned the people's trust by becoming one of the Ashari, and lastly, got her ticket to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Thordak claimed to know Raishan’s illness and even the cure, which was the very reason why she decided to plot his escape and swore loyalty to him in return.

Using her intelligence, Raishan banded together the exiled fire giants from the City of Brass to initiate her grand scheme. With mastery in Druidic magic, she created an apparatus called Ember Seed, which is capable of encasing a speck of the Fire Plane, and fused it with Thordak’s soul anchor.

After waiting for the celestial solstice, Thordak tore through the Plane of Fire’s rift, ravaging through Pyrah. Uniting with Vorugal and Umbrasyl, Thordak and Raishan ascended towards Emon, where the second season kicked off. In just a few days, the Chroma Conclave took control of most parts of Tal’Dorei by wiping out more than half of the population.

After Umbrasyl’s fall, Raishan went behind Thordak’s back by seeking an alliance with Vox Machina to put an end to Cinder King and his future plans. By the looks of it, it can be presumed that Raishan’s aversion towards Thordak was caused by the uncherished pact they made at the Fire Plane.

In The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2 finale, Raishan divulged that Thordak was stripping Tal’Dorei of its gold not to satisfy his greed but to plot something even more devastating that would eventually bring Exandria to the brink of extinction.

During the final moments of The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2, Thordak was seen taking Umbrasyl’s death casually while proclaiming his invincibility with his new army of thousands of dragon eggs.

The upcoming season of The Legend of Vox Machina will see the heroes gather more Vestiges of Divergence to battle the new "Dragon Army" of Thordak and Vorugal the Frigid Doom.

It would be improbable for Vox Machina to work with Raishan, who killed a fraction of Emon with her Poison Smoke. But for now, the heroes have resolved to look at the big picture by putting Raishan’s wrongdoing aside.