Critical Role's Matthew Mercer Explains End of Most Recent Episode

Critical Role DM Matthew Mercer provided some additional context about the end of last night's episode. A few weeks ago, Critical Role launched its third Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Like many other D&D campaigns, the first several episodes were about feeling out each other's characters and starting to explore potential plot hooks. However, last night's episode unexpectedly sent the Campaign into a new direction.

[Spoilers for Campaign 3, Episode 3 follows.]

One of the surprises in Campaign 3 was the return of Sir Bertrand Bell, played by cast member Travis Willingham. Bell had previously appeared in two one-shot Vox Machina adventures and was established as a now elderly (and somewhat cowardly) adventurer and contact. Unlike the other cast members' characters, Bell was a Level 5 character to reflect his experience and age. 

However, at the end of last night's episode, Bell seemingly met his end at the hands of an assassin who accosted him while drunk. While many speculated that Bell was only a temporary character, no one expected that Bell would meet such a grim fate. 

Shortly after the episode aired, Mercer took to Twitter to explain the twist and how it came into being. "Travis wanted his [Campaign 3] character to join in a little bit down the road (not unlike many classic JRPGs), but it led to an issue," Mercer said on Twitter. "I wanted Travis at the table and present for the first episode at least or more! When given the option to create a character, [Travis] was inspired to bring Sir Bertrand Bell back for this purpose, and we discussed the means of his exit. Travis proposed the "grim end", but agreed he would not know how or when and such, we anchored Bertrand into the story and watched where things went!" 

Mercer also noted that Travis would return to the table soon with a brand new character. "Do not fret," Mercer said. "Travis will return in the near future with his "true" C3 character, and it is gonna be a BLAST to see the paths collide!"

What did you think about the twist in last night's episode? Let us know in the comment section!